Double All-Ireland success for Harriers 

CLONLIFFE Harriers, based at Morton Stadium, completed a year of unprecedented success in Abbottstown last Sunday week (November 24) when they won the Men’s Junior and Men’s Senior All-Ireland Cross Country titles.

While the Harriers’ senior team were the dominant force in cross country throughout the course of this millennial, in recent years near neighbours Raheny Shamrocks have turned the tables completely, winning the last three national cross country titles. 

However, the Santry men put that to rights in the mud of Abbottstown to take the title back to the club’s headquarters.

It was a victory built on teamwork with Clonliffe managing to put out a very strong team, displaying the club’s great strength in depth, despite the team being somewhat weakened by withdrawals of some of its top athletes and also athletes taking to the start line whilst carrying injuries. 

Eritrean born Efrem Gidey, still only 19-years-of-age, ran his first national race. Efrem recently won the Dublin Senior Cross Country title and in Abbottstown displayed great determination in grimly hanging in with the lead pack to lead the Clonliffe team home in ninth place. 

With Jayme Rossiter 12th, Cathal Doyle 14th and Colm Rooney 18th, the Clonliffe men finished on a total of 52 points, all of 36 points ahead of the chasing rivals Dundrum South Dublin and the defending champions Raheny Shamrocks in third place.

The Clonliffe team also included previous national champions Sergiu Ciobanu and 2012 Olympian Mark Kenneally, also a previous winner of the individual title and Ian Guiden making up the ‘A’ team.

The club’s junior athletes also excelled and successfully defended their Junior title with fantastic runs by Aaron Cullen, 12th, Ben Guiden 15th, Stephen Cashin 21st and Calum Simpson 42nd making up the scoring four to take a narrow victory over Dundrum South Dublin.  These four were ably backed up by Alex Murray, Ian McElweney, Niall Carberry and Daniel Lacy.

Club captain Joe Cooper was captaining the men’s team to an extraordinary 12th All Ireland Senior Men’s title.  Post-race, a proud Joe Cooper said: “This was a fantastic team effort by the whole club, not only by the scoring four but by their teammates who backed them up throughout the course of the race and indeed also through a very strong ‘B’ team.

The team have been focusing upon this championship all year long and they along with their coaches deserve fantastic credit and praise for the huge amount of training and self-sacrifice they have put into this victory. 

“These guys are ‘amateur’ athletes but they are thoroughly professional in their approach training seven days a week, several of them train twice a day and around that they have working lives and family lives. I cannot praise and thank them enough.”

The Clonliffe Harriers Senior Women’s team comprising Ailish Malone, Alannah Cooley, Laura Tuite, Emma Cooper and Maura Matthews put in a great battling display to finish seventh with the Junior Women’s team of Sarah Bateson, Katie Halpin, Aoife Hession, Abbey Sheehy, Hannah Browne, Alana Fitzsimons, Ella Brown and Tess Loftus also performing very well to finish 10th overall.