Dooney and Dooney are the names tied to the 2017 Irish Life Health National Track & Field Championship.
On Saturday afternoon it was the Kevin Dooney hour when he produced an explosive final lap to land his first national title in the 10,000 metres with Mick Clohisey second.
Sunday it was the Conor Dooney hour as the elder Dooney produced a piece of distance front running to claim the 5,000 metre title and ensure Raheny Shamrock as the top distance running club in Ireland.
So it is on that first day of national senior championship competition we start, Saturday July 22nd 2017 and a nice day in the Morton Stadium.
The day would start very well, Liam Sheehan runs a 200 metres personal best of 23.95 seconds to get us up and running.
In heat one of the men’s 800 metres double European medal Mark English wins as expected in 1:53.35 with Brian Fay securing automatic passage to Sunday’s final in second place in 1:53.81.
In heat two national indoor champion Kieran Kelly gets his championship off to victory in 1:56.99.
The 1500 metre heats continue in this style Daniel Scully takes sixth place in heat one in 3:58.74 and Eoin Strutt finishes second in heat two in 3:57.16. Both progress to Sunday’s final.
Aisling Drumgoole finishes third in heat two of the 400 metres in 56.48 seconds, progressing automatically to Sunday’s final.
Aoibhinn McGoldrick posts 62.29 seconds for fifth in heat one a good charge from a young athlete. Jamie Sheridan similarly in heat two of the men’s event, finishing fourth in 51.81 seconds more to follow in the years ahead for both athletes.
In the triple jump Matthew Cotter’s best jump of 12.85 metres sees him finish fifth.
As the day is finishing the reintroduced 5,000 metres heats bring some intrigue back to the event and questions the wisdom of the Athletics Ireland suits who decided on their abandonment for a graded race in the previous years.
Heat one see’s no messing from Mike McCabe, taking the bull by the horns to win in 15 minutes 25.27 seconds. Conor Dooney takes fifth place in 15:26.94 and passage with McCabe to Sunday’s final.
In the faster second heat Daire Bermingham finishes fourth in 15:04.16 making sure there are three Raheny vests on the line in the final.
In the middle of this, 3pm was high noon as 25 men set out upon 25 laps of the track Kevin Dooney and London 2017 bound Mick Clohisey on the line!
Clohisey winner in 2014 is the one all 25 have eyes on, the Olympian goes to the front of the race, quality and pedigree respected.
It ticks down and down eventually it’s Clohisey, Dooney and Kevin Mansuell of Clonmel battling it out for the podium places, before long it’s a two horse Raheny race.
Dooney shadow boxes Clohisey as he make’s through the final mile and then bang…Dooney makes an explosion of pace before the bell and Clohisey with marathon training weighing in his legs can’t respond.
Gold Kevin Dooney 29 minutes 30.16, silver Mick Clohisey 29 minutes 35.66 and who cares who was third!
For the 58th time a Raheny Shamrock athlete is awarded a national championship gold medal and Kevin Dooney becomes the third Raheny Shamrock man in 11 years to win the 10,000 metre title.
So Sunday July 23rd dawns, a late start this year as the national broadcaster will affix eyes onto the sport.
Eoin O’Dwyer is first in action, fifth in the junior 3,000 metres in 9:13.41, more will follow from this young man in this arena.
Sean O’Driscoll is next up, bang in the heat five of the 100 metres, bang with the win, 10.78 seconds and straight through to the live TV final.
O’Driscoll performs strongly, sixth place overall in 10.78 seconds for the record Clonliffe’s Jeremy Phillips is the winner in 10.39 seconds.
Just before the live TV Camera’s Conor Dooney trots out for the 5,000 metre final 12 and a half laps of the track.
Dooney binds his time for less than half of the race before etching a lead and this time Dooney C has no company, it’s the Conor Dooney show all that left is for the clock to record his gold medal victory at 14 minutes 25.60 seconds.
Daire Bermingham battles hard to a defiant fifth place finish in 14 minutes 56.78 seconds, Mike McCabe finishes 11th in 15:22.38.
Conor Dooney collects the 59th national senior title awarded to a Raheny Shamrock member and the first over 5,000 metres.
The TV Camera’s flick on, the legendary commentator George Hamiliton has special mention for one Kieran Kelly.
Plenty of argy-bargy as Mark English wins them 800m national title! It's worth a watch. Live action on @RTE2 and @RTEPlayer pic.twitter.com/bHhkftdaDc
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) July 23, 2017
It’s the Double European medallist Mark English who wins gold in 1:50.89 seconds, with Kelly taking silver in 1:52.07, the big aggressive front runner’s first national outdoor medal.
Brian Fay fresh from school steeplechase gold finishes seventh in his first senior final, 1:54.16 for good measure.
A classic 400 metre final see’s Aisling Drumgoole put it up to some characters to finish fifth in 56.02 seconds.
Eoin Strutt and Daniel Scully battle in the tactical sauna of the 1500 metre final, ninth for Strutt in 3:59.38, 14th for Scully 4:02.18.
The men’s 4×400 relay team finish just off the medals in fourth place 3:24.78 just four seconds behind Crusaders B team in bronze position. Crusaders A and Nenagh Olympic take gold and silver.
Conor Bermingham battles in the pole vault sixth place with a best of 4.15 metres, that barrier will move higher and fly under him as the training pays off.
There’s a silver lining to this story, Colm Burke who lines up for the long jump.
It’s Silver for Colm Burke 7.46 metres a best on attempt five, Adam McMullen taking gold with 7.74 metres.
Don't mean to sound ignorant and correct but it was 7.46 and wind was (+2.2). Also well done to Matthew and coach Kay.
— Colm Bourke 🇮🇪 (@ColmBourkeLJ) July 24, 2017
What a way to wrap up a national championships
Editor Note: 1.Many thanks to both Orla Manley and Simon Devenny for keeping the club’s twitter and facebook accounts updated throughout the championships.
2. My apologises to the athlete’s competing on the delay in this report. Professional duties called this weekend and the bereavement of John Fennell left a huge void.
