Club athletes took part in Day 2 of the Dublin Juvenile Track & Field League on Sunday, 11th May 2025 at Tallaght Athletics Club, delivering several Top 3 finishes across track and field events and lots of valuable experiences gained by many of our younger athletes in particular.
🥇 1st Place
Robin Harris – Boys U14 High Jump
Quinn O’Dwyer – Boys U12 60m
🥈 2nd Place
Darragh Smith – Boys U10 60m
Ella O’Dwyer – Girls U15 800m
🥉 3rd Place
Benjamin Kasprzak – Boys U10 Long Jump
Mikey Hayden – Boys U12 Shot Putt
Sarah O’Halloran – Girls U12 High Jump
Dylan Brennan – Boys U16 Long Jump
Max Lyons – Boys U14 800m
Adam Conway – Boys U15 100m
Keane Wosser – Boys U16 100m
Azim Floro Ali – Boys U16 800m
Eva McArdle – Girls U15 100m
Well done to all athletes who competed. Next up will be the Dublin Championships.
Club athletes across several local schools delivered outstanding performances at the recent Leinster Schools Championships, returning with an impressive collection of medals, personal bests, and near misses.
🌟 Patryk Pucek of Nessans led the medal charge in the field events, claiming gold in the Inter Boys High Jump with a superb leap of 1.85 meters. He also showed his versatility by earning silver in the Triple Jump, capping off a brilliant day of competition.
⚡ On the track, Alicja Doyle of Belmayne Educate Together sprinted to gold in the Inter Girls 100m. Belmayne’s momentum continued in the relays, where the Inter Girls 4 x 100m team powered to a first-place finish, demonstrating excellent teamwork with Meabh O’Grady, Ola Kacperska and Marianne O’Farrell joining Alicja.
🥈 In the Junior Girls 800m, Ella O’Dwyer (Belmayne Educate Together) ran a strong and determined race to take silver, showing great stamina and tactical awareness.
🥉 Dylan Brennan of Malahide Portmarnock Educate Together captured bronze in the Junior Boys 100m, finishing strongly in a closely contested sprint.
🔍 There were also some near-misses:
Liliya Riecka (Belmayne Educate Together) was just 1 centimetre short of a medal in the Junior Girls Triple Jump, a heartbreaking but valiant performance.
The Belmayne Junior Girls 4 x 100m relay team delivered a thrilling race, missing out on bronze by an agonising 0.01 seconds in a photo finish.
Congratulations to all the students, teachers, coaches, and Parents involved. You’ve done your schools proud!
Relay Squads for the u14 to u18 Age Groups have been confirmed for the upcoming Dublin Championship and All-Ireland Championship if a team qualifies from Dublins. The Dublin Championships take place on the 11th June (Wednesday) and 13th June (Friday) in Lucan. The u14 and u15 Ages can have both a Championship and Development team while u16, u17 & u18 is Championship only. The objective will be to have more than one team in each age group, if possible. The Coaching Team are also conscious that some of the older ages will be in State Exams which may affect availability and the ability to field teams.
*in all ages, some new members are currently in the process of joining the Club and these may be added to Squads if their membership is in place in time.
Girls u14 (2012 & 2013)
Nikita Riecka
Victoria Misik
Hania Kacperska
Nina Sprysak
Darcy Henry
Aislinn O’Healai
Boys u14 (2012 & 2013)
Jacques Duthoit
Max Lyons
Robin Harris
Leon Keogh
Etienne Cotter
Alex Cotter
Girls u15 (2011 & 2012)
Sophie Winkless
Eva McCardle
Liliya Riecka
Ella O’Dwyer
Sophie Ferguson
Ava Kavanagh
Anyanna Enwerem
Sarah O’Farrell
Darcy Henry
Evie Grace
Hania Kacperska
Emma O’Brien
Boys u15 (2011 & 2012)
Cillian Martin
Adam Conway
Idriss Floro Ali
Charlie O’Brien
Arthur Kenevey
Amar Jith
Jacques Duthoit
Max Lyons
Robin Harris
Girls u16 / u17 / u18 (2008, 2009, 2010)
Isabella Maher
Aoife Ferguson
Lauren Ferguson
Marianne O’Farrell
Meabh O’Grady
Ola Kacperska
Lily Nadolinska
Alicja Doyle
Eimear Walsh
Poppy Norton
Boys u16 / u17 / u18 4 x 100 (2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 for u16 only)
A busy week over the past seven days with Club athletes competing on several fronts.
Dublin League Day 1
The U10 to U16 Age Groups had their first day out in the Dublin League last Sunday in Tallaght. The Dublin League is a great competition for preparing for the championships to come and for getting event experience. There were big numbers competing in the U10 Turbo Javelin and the preparation over the winter paid off with five club athletes in the Top 12.
Our Jumpers continued to progress with wins for Robin Harris (4.88m, Club Record u14) and Eva McArdle in the Girls u15. The 400m is a rarely run event for younger ages with good runs from Ella O’Dwyer (U15) and Keane Wosser (u16) while the Middle Distance squad in all ages got valuable experience in their races with the Boys u13 a standout with 5 of the Boys dipping under the 2 minute mark for 600m.
North Leinster Schools
Monday saw the North Leinster School Championships in Santry. This event is the first event in the qualifying chain for the Irish Secondary Schools Championship with qualifiers from this event proceeding to the Leinster School Championship. There were numerous qualifiers across many events with a broad range of schools represented by Club athletes including Manor House, Malahide Educate Together, Nessans, St Fintans, Belmayne Educate Together and Sutton Park.
The Ferguson sisters had a unique treble with Aoife (High Jump), Lauren (Race Walk) and Sophie (Discus) all taking gold while Dylan Brennan had a sprint double (100 & 200m) the Junior Boys while the Junior and Intermediate Girls of Belmayne Educate Together both won their 4 x 100m Relays.
In total, 21 Club athletes have qualified for the Leinster Schools.
Dublin Graded Meet
The first round of the Dublin Graded Meet took place in Santry on Saturday. This is a Senior Open Series of Meets. U17 Girls, Alicja Doyle and Marianne O’Farrell, made their debuts and both performed very well in their 100m events. Alicja running 12.16 for 6th in the A race while Marianne had a strong win in her C Race in 13.13.
All-Ireland indoor medals for Clongriffin are like Dublin Buses, you wait ages for one to come and then a load come at the same time. Coming into 2025, only three All-Ireland Indoor medals had been won by the Club in its history but last week saw two Golds, with Danny Davis and Alicja Doyle, and at the final day of the 2025 All-Ireland Indoors, another four medals were added to that haul in a dramatic and exciting day of action.
Patryk Triple Jumps To Gold
Patryk Pucek has more 4th to 6th places to his name in All-Ireland jumps events that he’d like to mention but he finally got to stand on the podium after a stunning breakthrough series of jumps in the Boys u17 Triple Jump. Coming into the event, he had never surpassed 12 metres but right from round 1 he put that to right with an opening jump of 12.19m. A remarkable series saw him surpass that in each subsequent round, culminating in a massive 12.93m in his final round, only 33cm off the Championship Record.
In the same event, Timur Ciparsons, had a breakthrough of his own, clearing 11 metres for the first time and finishing 5th on his All-Ireland debut. Lily Nadolinksa had earlier come 9th in her Girls u17 Triple Jump, narrowly missing out on a final spot.
It wasn’t just Triple Jumpers on shows as Leon Keogh was competing in the Boys u13 High Jump. Leon showed his versatility, having made the final of the hurdles the previous week, Leon cleared a new PB of 1.40m to take 7th in the final. Three really close jumps at 1.43m show Leon’s potential to go even higher in the outdoor season.
Boys u16 Take Relay Gold
The 2010 Boys relay team made their relay debut in 2022 at the Dublin Championships in the u13 Relay. That day they finished 5th in their heat and didn’t make the Dublin final. Roll forward three years and they were standing top of the podium as All-Ireland Championships. Lots of hard work, Reps in ALSAA, Jump Squats in The Junction, Hills in Fr Collins Park and Speed Work in Santry paid off. Winning their heat with a quartet of Dylan Brennan, Jaden Hagan Frank, Adam Conway and Keane Wosser, the boys went into the final with the fastest qualifying time. Squad depth was evident with Azim Floro Ali coming in for the final. Dylan handed to Jaden in the lead and with a huge run off the hill Jaden passed through his 100m mark to maintain the key inside lane. He passed to Azim who stretched the lead to handoff to team captain Keane who brought the boys home for a big win in 1:37.69, almost 3 seconds faster than their Dublin Championships time last January.
Seventh Time Lucky For Girls u15
Competing in their 7th All-Ireland Relay event, the 2011 Girls may have been thinking would they ever get the chance to stand on the podium. Having won the Dublins, and with the B Team 3rd, there was hope that this could be their chance. A tough heat draw meant the girls had to work very hard to make the final but they duly did and lined up in lane 4 in the final. Eva McCardle, not accustomed to lead off leg, set the team up brilliantly to hand over to 800m star, Ella O’Dwyer in a medal position. With several of the medal challenging teams front loading their second legs, Ella know she just needed to hand over to Ava Kavanagh in touch of the medal positions. She duly did and with Ava in a battle with Belgooly and St Abbans for bronze, she kept her composure to come home very strong to pass to Evie Grace in third place. Evie still had lots of work to do but she did it brilliantly. Pulling away in the final 100m to grab a brilliant bronze. After so many near misses over the past three years, it was an emotional result for the girls. Similar to the U16 Boys, this was a squad result with super sub, Liliya Riecka, also on site to get her bronze medal with the girls on the podium.
Mixed Relay Win Bronze
The Super Saturday had started with the Mixed u17 Relay. This involves two girls and two boys running as a team. Our quartet of Alicja Doyle, Patryk Pucek, Marianne O’Farrell and Keane Wosser had won the Dublin Championship so came in with a realistic medal shout. 60m Champion from last weekend Alicja, led the team off with a blistering start handing over to Patryk. Near disaster was averted after Patryk came in contact with the track side barrier but he ran composed after that to hand to Marianne in 3rd place. Marianne maintained this to hand to Keane who safely brought the baton home in 3rd place. Mixed Relay is a unique opportunity that allows boys and girls compete in the same team at the highest level.
Overall Relay Success
Aside from the relay teams winning medals, there were great performances across the board from the four other relay teams we had competing at the All-Irelands. None more so than the Girls u13 team who finished 4th overall, only 0.10 seconds off a medal. Squad depth was on show here when Zara Akinsowon had to come in as a late sub with her sister Mya injured in the warmup. The quartet of Niamh O’ Farrell, Mia Sinclair, Orlaith O’Grady and Zara took nearly two seconds off their time from the Dublins.
The Boys u13 (Leon Keogh, Etienne Cotter, Alex Cotter, Olly Dunne and Ruben Casey), the Boys u14 (Robin Harris, Hassan Khalid, Jacques Duthoit and Max Lyons) and the Girls u17 (Ola Kacperska, Lily Nadolinska, Meabh O’Grady, Marianne O’Farrell and Alicja Doyle) all finished 6th in their finals, and all running faster than they did in Dublins.
After a few days off for the athletes and coaches, attention now turns to the Outdoor season over the coming months.
It was double gold for Clongriffin AC at Days 1 and 2 of the All-Ireland indoors in Athlone this week.
Danny Davis took gold in the u14 800m on Saturday after a huge battle with the Shercock AC athlete. Danny took the race by the scruff of the next from the gun opening up a sizeable lead after 200m. Settling into his pace, the gap was slowly closing and when the Shercock athlete came on Danny’s shoulder coming to the bell it looked like he may be overtaken. But he dug in, not once but three times to repel his rival to come home with a big win in a very fast 2:09.95.
Alicja Doyle went into her U17 60m race on Sunday on the back of an excellent silver medal at the u20 championships a few week previously. Drawn in Heat 1, away from her main rivals from Dooneen and Belgooly who were in Heat 2, Alicja lay down a serious gautlet with a blistering 7.49 to win her heat and qualify for the final. Although only 15 years old, this time puts Alicja #7 on the Irish Senior Rankings this season. Drawn in lane 5 in the final, Alicja had her customary fast start and came home in 7.53 to claim her first All-Ireland title.
Patryk Pucek came agonisingly close to a medal in the Boys u17 High Jump. Despite jumping a new PB of 1.78m, with the Top 4 athletes, all jumping the same, medals were decided on ‘countback’, a concept where numbers of failures at previous heights are taken into account, saw Patryk come 4th. Patryk had come 6th the previous day in the Long Jump so great consistency at the highest level of All-Irelands.
Ella O’Dwyer had a major breakthrough performance in the Girls u15 800m and although she didn’t get a medal, losing out by only 0.4 seconds, she did get a massive 4 second PB and a very strong 4th place. Ella showed her versatility by claiming 9th in the Long Jump.
Also showing consistency was Marianne O’Farrell with a 4th place and 5th place in the Girls u17 Hurdles and Long Jump. The hurdles in particular was so close with Marianne missing out on a medal by only hundreds of a second. Only starting her All-Irelands journey, Sarah O’Halloran went into her Girls u12 Long Jump ranked #9. But she pulled out all the stops to not only make the final (Top 8) but also be in a medal position for 5 rounds and only lose out in the last round. But her reward was a new PB (3.99m) and 4th place in her All-Ireland debut. Sarah also PB’d in the Shot Putt later in the day.
Also on his All-Ireland Indoor debut. Robin Harris produced a new PB, again when it mattered, in the Boys u14 Long Jump to place 5th. He also had a PB in the Shot Putt, underlying his multi event potential.
Keane Wosser and Dylan Brennan ran PBs in their Boys u16 60m and eventually finished 7th and 8th respectively in the final. Keane also PB’d in his 200m to finish 7th while Dylan PB’d in his Long Jump for 8th in the final.
Liliya Riecka and Aoife Ferguson continued their progression as High Jumpers with 7th place finishes in the Girls u15 and Girls u16 events while Liliya also knocked 0.6 seconds off her PB in the 60m Hurdles. Meabh O’Grady equalled her High Jump PB for 9th in the Girls u17 High Jump. Lauren Ferguson finished a brave 8th in the Girls u16 Racewalk, also getting a new PB.
Our younger hurdlers were out in force on Day 1 in the u13 and u14 age groups. On her All-Ireland debut, Mia Sinclair outperformed her pre-race rankings to make the final of the Girls u13, running a PB along the way. There was heartbreak for her training partner, Mya Akinsowon, who clipped the last hurdle and fell when in a qualifying position in her heat. Leon Keogh and Hassan Khalid had big PBs in their heats to make their first All-Ireland hurdle finals too.
Personal Bests were the order of the day for our younger sprinters who despite not progressing to their finals should be proud of their progression and debut performances at All Ireland individual. Quinn O’Dwyer (Boys u12), Darcy Henry (Girls u14), Evie Grace and Eva McArdle (Girls u15) all running faster than they had at the Dublin qualifiers.
Mateo Collins showed his versatility with a PB (and only 30cm off the final) in the Boys u12 Shot Putt while Daniel Ward was as consistent as ever in the Boys u13 and only 50cm off a place in the final.
Azim Floro Ali had a PB in his Boys u16 800m in only his second 800m race while Max Lyons, Isaac Eivers and Viola de Chellis had strong performances in their respective 800m and Long Jump events.
Thanks as always to the cohort of coaches for supporting over both days (Magda, Cliodhna, Conor, Kieron, Sinead Mc, Jeremy, Sharon Ka, Marie, Dan, Trish) and the Parents for unwavering support for their children on the athletics journey.
The All-Ireland Indoor conclude next Saturday when the Relays and Triple Jump are held.
The March Mile, a vital fund raising event for the Club, was held in sunny spring conditions in Fr Collins Park today. Close to 100 athletes, coaches and Parents toed the line and completed the One Mile course.
Thanks to all who supported and well done to all who were lucky enough to have won a spot prize.
It was a silver medal over 60m at today Irish u20 Championships in Athlone. Having gone into the Championships with a PB of 7.75, Alicja lowered that to new territory with 7.58 to win her heat in the early morning session. She followed that up with another new PB of 7.57 to take silver behind Precious Akpe-Moses and just ahead of Destiny Lawal.
This time ranks Alicja #3 on the All-Time u17 Irish Rankings, only behind Rhasidat Adeleke (7.43) and Ciara Neville (7.45).
This was the first Irish u20 Championships an athlete from the Club has competed in.
Clongriffin Athletic Club’s progress continued with our best ever performance at the recent Dublin Indoor Championships. Using both Placing Points and Medals Won metrics Clongriffin AC finished 3rd overall out of the 22 juvenile clubs in Dublin. This is up from 9th in 2024.
Rank
Club
1
Metro / St Brigids
2
Dundrum South Dublin
3
Clongriffin
4
Donore Harriers
5
Raheny Shamrock
6
Blackrock
7=
Lucan Harriers
7=
Cabinteely
9
Crusaders
10
Tallaght
11
Clonliffe Harriers
12
Lusk
Above table is based on Placing Points, 1st=6pts, 2nd=5pts, 3rd=4pts, 4th=3pts, 5th=2pts, 6th=1pt.
This also included 43 medals in total with 14 Golds, 19 Silvers and 10 Bronze.
Clongriffin athletes had top 6 finishes in the full range of events including Sprints, Hurdles, Middle Distance, Jumps, Throws and Racewalk. All of this would not be possible without the dedicated and highly motivated coaching team who have upskilled their knowledge through their experiences over the past four years. There are currently 31 coaches in the Club who turn up week in, week out coaching in the Halls, Astros, Parks, Gym and Tracks and commit many more hours in planning, preparation and organising.
Founded in 2019, straddling a global pandemic, this was only the fourth indoor championships the Club has attended so it is very exciting to see such progress so soon and great strides being made.
Sunday saw the 2025 edition of the Dublin Athletics Spraoi Games in the NIA. With 22 of Dublin Juvenile Clubs competing across the u9 (2017) to u11 (2015) it was a fun filled festival of athletics.
Spraoi is a team based event where Clubs compete as a team across a running event (60m), throwing event (bean bag throw), jumping event (standing long jump) and relay. Points are awarded to all athletes who compete, no matter their finishing position, and in the end all points are added up to provide an overall team score.
While results are not the priority, the Clongriffin Academy teams all performed brilliantly across the range of events with three of the age group coming top of their age groups and the three others all top 6, out of 22 clubs. Aside from results, it was a fun filled day where every child got the opportunity to compete in a run, jump and throw event. All competitors received a Spraoi Certificate and the day was finished by a lap of honour by all athletes.
Next up for the Academy athletes will be the outdoor season and after a mini mid-term break, the coaching teams will now turn their attention to that.
Clongriffin AC 