Donore Harriers athletes make their presence felt
THE Donore Harriers pair of Louis O’Loughlin and Jack Raftery, representing the Ireland A team and the Irish Development team respectively, ran very much to par in the Under 18s category at the Celtic Games held in the Morton Stadium in Santry on Saturday.
O’Loughlin, competing in the 800m, gave his usual brave performance when moving up to second on the last lap to cross the line in a time of 1.56.59.
In doing so he managed to hold off the late challenge of Owen Hibbert (1.56.87) of Wales.
The event was won by pre-race favourite Seumas MacKay (1.54.70) of Scotland.
The Shetland AC (Scotland) athlete took control of the race early on and had about 10 metres to spare at the finish line, improving on his personal best from 2.01.95 to 1.53.32 in 2017.
Meanwhile Raferty’s new best marks of 1.59.4 for the 800m and 51.89 for the 400m have made him one of the most improved juvenile athletes in Ireland this year and deservedly won him a place on the Ireland Development team in the 4 x 400m relay.
He did not disappoint, running the anchor leg in 52.4 to bring home the ‘B’ team home in third place in 3.30.04 – behind Ireland A (3.21.61) and Scotland (3.26.38) – but ahead of Wales (3.33.57).
The team also included of Jack Hayden (Menapians AC), Ben Jones (Dundrum South Dublin) and Ciaran McManus (Fingallians).
TAGS Sport
