DESPITE holding no trials, Malahide produced a series of superb results at the recent Dublin Community Games finals, winning seven gold medals along with three silver, three bronze and two fourth place medals.
The group had initially planned its trials for early May at Malahide rugby club, as it had done for the past four years, but heavy rain saw that date forced to be cancelled at short notice.
A second date was not possible before the May 22 deadline, meaning the group had to select runners and relay teams despite not holding those trials.
In spite of these trying times, the area was one of the standout performers at the event with seven athletes qualifying for the national finals in Athlone next August.
Among the gold winners were, in the Under-8 boys 80m sprint, Ciaran Peacock, Wilhelm de Klerk (Under-12 boys ball throw), Ronan Patterson (Under-14 400m) and the four by 100m relay teams of Sam Smith, Matthew Riordan , Alex Devitt and Ronan Patterson. At Under-16 level, Cian McLoughlin (100m sprint) was a dual winner, landing an individual title while he also helped the four by 200m mixed relay team to gold, joining Orla Kavanagh, Lauren Devitt and Luke Hughes.
On the girls’ side, Kavanagh won the Under-16 girls 200m sprint.
They were backed up by silver medallists Katie Clifford (Under-12 turbo javelin), Aoife McLoughney (Under-14 long puck) and Binyam Keegan (Undeer-14 80m Hurdles). Bronze went to Abby McCabe (Under-12 ball throw), Matthew Riordan (Under-14 80 hurdles) and to the Under-13 four by 100m mixed relay team of Lara Nolan, Blaise Carroll, John Paul Shanley and Sean Flynn.
Fourth place medals were also awarded to Ronan Hickey in the Under-8 80m and the Under-16 girls relay team of Isobel Foran, Zara Kearney, Maeve Patterson and Kate Joyce.
It all helped to give Malahide second place overall in the Dublin community games athletics overall performance, coming in behind the always competitive Navan Road.
Malahide also have two basketball teams who will be representing Dublin in the Community Games Leinster semi-finals and finals on July 4.
They are the mixed Under-11 team and the boys Under-16 team. If they win, they will go on to represent their province at the All-Ireland Community Games Finals in Athlone on the August 22 and 23.
It would provide a superb send-off for the group’s secretary Una Deneher who has been involved for the past 10 years.
