Dublin Clubs Roundup - 03 - 08 June 2025

ANOTHER BIG WIN FOR HEALY

Sarah Healy’s magic season continued on Friday evening when she won the 1500m at the Rome Diamond League meet on Friday evening (June 6), while in the men’s 1500m at the same meet, Cathal Doyle (Clonliffe Harriers) ran a qualifying time for the World Championships later this summer. In her first 1500m outdoor race of the season, Healy stayed out of trouble for the opening two laps, and then moved through the field into third place when turning into the finishing straight. Only with her final few strides did she sprint clear of Australia’s Sarah Billings for victory in a time of 3:59.24. Billings was second in 359.24 and Abbey Caldwell, also from Australia, third in 3:59.32. Just a fortnight ago at the Diamond League round in Rabat, Morocco, Healy improved her 3,000m best by almost four seconds when finishing an impressive third in a time of 8:27.02. That time knocked over three seconds off the 8:30.79 she ran indoors in New York in February, a few weeks before her memorable 3000m victory at the European Indoor Championships. Next up for Healy is the Meeting de Paris Diamond League round at the Stade Charléty in Paris, where Healy ran her best time for the distance of 3:57.4 last July. In the men’s 1500m, Doyle ran a lifetime best of of 3:32.15 to finish 14th in a race where all sixteen starters ran times of under 3 mins 33 secs, which happens to be the A standard for the Tokyo World Championships. So job done for Doyle. Winner was France’s Azeddine Habz in 3:29.72.

PERSONAL BEST FOR MALLON 

Closer to home, at the BMC Grand Prix 2025, hosted by Birmingham University on Saturday (June 7), 19-year-old Lughaigh Mallon (UCD AC) clocked a personal best 3:41.15 when finishing sixth in the the men’s B grade 1500m race. The time is inside the B standard for next month’s European U23 Championships in Bergen, Norway and also qualifies Mallon for the World University Games taking place in the week after Bergen. A grand total of fifteen 1500m races and fourteen 800m races made up a large part of the programme, with Irish club athletes lining out in quite a few of those as well as in 5000m and steeplechase races. Indeed, from an entry of fourteen in the women’s steeplechase, seven - or exactly half - were Irish. Even better, the Irish took the top three places with Niamh Kearney (Raheny Shamrock AC) leading them home in 10:08.66, followed byAlexandra Joyce (Tuam AC) in 10:14.50 and Roisin Treacy (DSDAC) in 10:19.65. In the men’s steeplechase, Jonas Stafford (UCD AC) finished third in 8:55.13.

A large group of Dundrum South Dublin and UCD athletes were in Belgium for the Putbos Memorial Buyle, Orrdegem-Lede, Belgium, also on Saturday. In the 400m hurdles, Cara Murphy finished fourth in 59.49. In the series of eleven 400m races Ciaran Carthy (DSD AC) was tenth in a personal best 46.65m. David Bosch clocked a time of 47.86, with his UCD AC clubmate Molly Hourihan running a time of 55.56. In the 200m, Aobh Forde of DSD AC clocked 25.63. 

At the EYOF Gala in Weltzer, Germany, junior athlete Liam Morris (Donore Harriers) finished fourth in the men’s 800m in 1:56.40.

Earlier in the week, t the Elite Jessheim meet in Bergen, Norway, on Tuesday (June 3), Jodie McCann (DCH) finished 10th in the women’s 5000m in a time of 15:43.42. McCann is chasing a time of at least 15:22 in order to qualify for Tokyo.

TRACK AND FIELD - HOME

Carlow was the venue for the Leinster Track and Field Championships across all age groups over the weekend of June 7-8 and a busy weekend it proved to be. Race of the opening day was the U23 men’s 100m final, Sean Aigboboh (Tallaght AC) pipped Craig Duffy (Clonliffe Harriers) for victory with the pair timed at 10.42 and 10.43. Emmanuel Akinrolie (Titans AC) was third in 10.56. Uche Disu (Tallaght AC) won the women’s U20 100m in 25.1 and also finished second in the women’s 100m in 11.91. Winning the senior 110m hurdles in 14.04 secs was Rolus Olusa (Clonliffe Harriers). In the master women’s sprints. Sinead O’Connor (Metro St Brigid’s AC) won both the W40 100m and 200m. Double winners for Lucan Harriers were sprinters Leanne Wellings ,W50 100m and 200m, and Carol Kearney W60 100m and 200m. Kearney was also second in the 400m. In the middle distances, Godwin Matthias (Dundrum South Dublin AC) won the senior men’s 800m title in 1:58.51. In the 1500m races, Kevin Nolan (Donore Harriers) was first M35 with a time of 4:20.58 and Niall Sherlock (Clonliffe Harriers) second overall and first M40 in 4:26.03. Sherlock went on to win the 800m in 2:13.36.

Over the longer distances, Louise Gaffney (Rathfarnham WSAF AC) won the W35 3000m, while Philip O’Doherty (Clonliffe Harriers) was first M65 over the same distance. Winning the women’s discus was 21-year-old Anna Gavigan (LSA AC) with a throw of 52:03. Gavigan threw a PB 53.91 at the European Throwing Cup in Cyprus last March, and is consistently over the B standard of 51.30 for the European U23 Championships next month. Winning the men’s discus was Eoin Sheridan (Clonliffe Harriers) with a 52.03 effort. Clonliffe’s Grace Casey won the women’s senior javelin with a 44.03 throw and her clubmate Simon Galligan a clear winner of the senior men’s hammer with a throw of 60.47. Winning the senior men’s long jump with 6.61 m was Masahiro Watanabe (Crusaders AC). 

DUBLIN GRADED MEET NUMBER 4

Niamh Kelly (Clonliffe Harrier) ran a personal best 2 mins 11.14 secs to win the A grade women’s 800m at the fourth Dublin Graded Track and Field meet of the season at Santry on Wednesday (June 4). A close second was Niamh Cooney (ACE AC) in 2:11.45. Saoirse McGrath (Crusaders AC) won the B race in 2:20.70., with Elaine Kenny (Sportsworld) second in 2:21.52 and Alannah Cooley (Clonliffe Harriers) third in 2:21.90. Winning a closely fought men’s A 800m was Juan Ignacio Peña (Raheny Shamrock ) in 1:54.48. Second in 1:54.77 was James Foot (Bray Runners), while third was Andrew McGilton (DSD) in 1:55.36. Sean Healy (DSD) won the B race in 1:57.45, with Dylan Kelly (Donore Harriers) second in 1:59.11.

Sprinters had a tough evening of it with gusting headwinds of -3 and more affecting times. In the men’s 100m final (-3.0), Lorcan Murphy (DSD) ran 10.73 secs and Marcus Lawler (Clonliffe Harriers 10.85. Earlier into an even stronger -3.4 wind, the pair had run times of 10.76 and 10.85 secs respectively. In the first of two women’s 100m races (-2.6 wind), Sive O’Toole (StLOT AC) ran 12.07 and Uche Disu (Tallaght AC) 12.09 to finish second and third behind Sarah Kealy (Killarney Valley) the race winner in 12.04. . Later in the final, when the wind had moderated to -1.8, O’Toole and Disu finished first and second in slower times of 12.07 and 12.09. In the field, Isabel Mullarney (Rathfarnham WSAF) won the women’s shot with a 9.05 effort. Junior athlete Theo Hanlon Suncroft (Lusk) managed a huge heave of 17.04m with the lighter 6km shot in the men’s competition. Winning the men’s javelin with a throw of 45.55 was Hugh Kelly (UCD AC), while best in the long jump was M50 master athlete and decathlon specialist Kevin Byrne (DSD AC) with 4.73.

ROADS

Sean Doran (Clonliffe Harriers) was the winner of the 39th Patrick Bell and Nicky Philips 5km with a time of 15 mins 13 secs on Saturday (June 8). Just four seconds behind for second in 15:17 was Sean O’Connor (Dunshaughlin AC). Third in 15:35 was Colm Turner (Brothers Pearse AC), who was leading Brothers Pearse to team victories in two categories —the Paddy Murtagh Cup for teams of six and the club competition for teams of four. Clonliffe Harriers was second in the club category and also finished second in the women’s team competition, led by Alannah Cooley in seventh place. Brothers Pearse, led by Dee O’Keeffe, finished third.