A Brilliant Performance Sees East Cork AC Take National Silver - Report by John Walshe

A Brilliant Performance Sees East Cork AC Take National Silver

This article by John Walshe, appeared in the Midleton & Dist News on Thursday 01/12/2022

east cork ac national senior xc silver medalists donegal 2022

Since the formation of the Irish athletics governing body BLE (now Athletics Ireland) in 1967, no Cork club has won the national senior men’s cross-country title. Leevale, with its many stars over the years, finished runners-up on several occasions but never gained that coveted first spot

On Sunday week last, at the picturesque surrounds of Sheephaven Bay on the Rosguill Peninsula in far-away Donegal, a small contingent of athletes from the opposite part of the country caused one of the major upsets of the year. There, the maroon vests of East Cork AC were to the fore from the start of the 10km race and when the points were tallied up, the ‘Men from the East’ were awarded the silver medals with a total of 89 points, just three behind the famous Clonliffe Harriers outfit from Dublin

In a 1,800 word article on the club’s website by Peter McDermott in the lead-up to the championships, Clonliffe’s glory days were recalled including the club’s 25 titles at this level between 1976 and 2019. Yet, they had to wait for their fourth scorer Sergui Ciobanu’s 43rd placing to secure the win with East Cork’s four having already crossed the finishing line at that stage

First home was Tim O’Donoghue in a brilliant 11th position, followed by Paul Hartnett (19th), Michael Harty (21st) and Frank O’Brien (38th). Providing the necessary back-up were Kevin O’Brien (75th) and Nicky O’Donoghue (121st). And to add to the celebrations, just before the men’s race, Nick’s wife, Fiona Santry, maintained her marvellous winter form when finishing 22nd and also gaining a silver medal as the third scorer on the Cork team

The only other occasion in which the East Cork men had made the top three at this level was back in 1989 at Killenaule in Tipperary. There, Liam O’Brien, Bryan Meade, Donnacha O’Mahony and Tom Owens combined to win the bronze medals

Although he would be the last to admit it, last Sunday week’s achievement must have brought an immense sense of pride to the former Midleton CBS teacher who has given so much to the club since its inception in 1985. And, for good measure, Liam also had the satisfaction of seeing his son Frank and nephew Kevin played such a vital part in the triumph

This was alluded to by Tim O’Donoghue in an excellent and informative interview with John Cashman on 103FM Cork’s Sports Sunday, as he gave his thoughts on the day in Donegal: “I suppose going up there we thought we might have an outside chance of third so to come second was absolutely excellent. With four to score you need to have everyone perform and that’s something we’ve experienced since we were under Liam at the CBS. It’s quite difficult to get everyone healthy to the start line and then to get a performance out of everyone which luckily enough we did on the day

“The course itself was part of a golf course so underfoot conditions were excellent. For about the first 200 metres you had around 160 athletes all congregating into a tight left-hand turn and then the course itself was quite tight as well. Paul is just out of junior so to come in the top 20 was incredible. Michael, again, to finish just behind Paul was excellent and Frank, who is mainly a 800 metre specialist now, for him to rock up over 10km cross-country at national level and to be in the top 40 is great running and then Kevin and Nicky also had good performances.”

There was an extra bonus for the East Cork lads as they, along with Clonliffe, will now represent Ireland at the European Clubs Cross-Country which takes place at Oropesa del Mar near Valencia in Spain on February 5th. But before that, Tim will have the opportunity of competing in the Spanish sunshine as next Sunday he toes the line in that city’s famous marathon with high expectations of a fast time

After winning the Cork Marathon last June in a personal best of 2:18:37 – the fastest by a Cork athlete for 19 years - hopes were high for Dublin a month ago. But injury ruled him out, which was maybe a blessing in disguise given his cross-county performance. “The original plan was to run Dublin but that didn’t work out due to a hamstring injury, so I took a look at Valencia. The course is dead flat and looking at the results from previous years you could have 50 people under 2:20. So the plan is to get into a bunch and sit in there, after Cork I’d be hoping for a time around the 2:16 mark, all going well.”

After winning the Cork County senior back in October, coming second in the Munsters with what was their ‘B’ team and then taking the unexpected silver medals in Donegal and now the bonus of a trip to the European Clubs, these are indeed exciting times for East Cork Athletic Club. “However, we’re really only piggy-backing off of the work and consistency of the likes of James McCarthy and Sean McGrath and multiple other athletes from the club over the years,” admits Tim

“It really comes down to a lot of luck and maybe after all these years of trying we’ve finally managed to break into the top three, but that is down to the tradition and consistent showing-up of all the athletes down through the years, back as far as Liam O’Brien’s time. So it’s a culmination of work and effort within the club and that has definitely to be recognised, it’s not just the team that travelled to Donegal on Sunday week.”

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