Munster Senior Report - Nov 12th 2017

​The Munster Senior X Country Championships were held in Galbally, Co.Tipp on Sunday November 12th under the watchful eyes of the Galtee Mountains. The course consisted of 2km flat laps, with tough underfoot conditions. A 200 meter stretch on the back end of the course was in serious boggy condition. Our Senior Women's team consisting of Fiona Santry, Eadaoin O'Neill, Lorna Santry and Eibhlin Cleary took to the start line at 14.30. Fiona found herself in third position early on in the race before taking command of the second place position and maintaining a 14 second gap over her third placed rival, before extending this margin in the final lap. A mighty run from Fiona who took home a gold medal with the Cork County team, an individual silver medal and a team bronze medal. Sinead O'Connor of Leevale led the race from start to finish. Next home for East Cork was Lorna Santry in 11th position who paced herself decently throughout the race followed by Eadaoin O'Neill who also ran well to finish in 12th position. Eibhlin Cleary rounded off the team scoring for East Cork in 17th position meaning the team finished on 42 points, only two behind An Riocht. In the Men's Senior race Tim O'Donoghue and Kevin Maunsell set the pace from the gun with the two battling it out for the first 3km before Kevin opened up a gap. Tim pushed hard in pursuit ensuring he kept the chasing pack at bay in the process. Tim went on to pick up a gold County team medal for Cork as their first scorer, a silver individual medal and a silver team medal with East Cork. James McCarthy had an exceptional run battling his way in third for over half the race before falling slightly back to 6th overall. Huge improvements being made by James which should prove fruitful at the All-Irelands in two weeks time. Next up was Sean McGrath with his typical hell for leather attitude giving it his all to finish in an impressive 9th position. This was the second of four consecutive racing weekends for Sean with the Munster Masters coming next weekend. Kevin O'Brien rounded of the scoring for East Cork in 11th position, solid running from Kevin who should have fresher legs come the All Irelands. Tim, James, Sean and Kevin all received a gold medal for Cork and were the first four scorers on the County team. Kenneth Kelleher had a strong performance in the muck to finish in 16th position. Fergus Meade made his first cross county appearance for East Cork this season to come home in 19th, with Kevin O'Leary finishing in 31st position on his senior debut . Overall East Cork finished on 28 points in second position with Ennis Track in first on 20 points and Leevale somewhere over Galteemore on 73 points in third.

Results at the following link : http://www.munsterathletics.com/results/2017/Results%20%281%29.pdf

Next x county fixture is the Munster Masters in Riverstick on Sunday November 19th.