Tuohy shocks training partner McCarthy to claim 800m title
It was the first time McCarthy was beaten at schools level having won titles every year from junior boys’ upwards and he has the unique distinction of winning the intermediate schools cross-country, 400m and 800m titles in the same year.
On Saturday he bounced back for an emphatic victory in the 1,500m and while he was never going to defend his 800m title at the Irish schools championships in Tullamore in two weeks’ time his defeat came as a major shock.
It was the result of some perfect timing by Tuohy who took the field through the opening 400m in 57 secs. It was then that McCarthy took the lead but he was now battling into a gale force head-wind on the back straight.
“He played into my hands,” Tuohy said afterwards on how he shielded himself from the wind on the back straight and then used the tailwind on the home straight to edge his way back into the lead and win in 1:53.80 top 1:53.89. Both boys are coached by former Olympic steeplechaser, Brendan Quinn.
McCarthy bounced back later in the day to win the 1,500m title in a comfortable 3:59.88 with another Waterford athlete, Kevin Downey (Tramore CBS), second in 4:12.79 and Niall McCormack (High School Clonmel) third in 4:15.36.
Eoin Hannon (Our Lady’s, Templemore) set a new record when he won the senior boys’ long jump with a best of 7.03m which was one centimetre better than the old record.
Brendan Quinn’s son, Shane, produced the double of the day when he won the Junior boys’ 800m and 1,500m.
Last year he was still a minor when he set the junior 1,500m record at 4:15.47 secs and on Saturday he retained his title in 4:11.06 to bring off the second leg of an exciting double. Earlier in the day he led all the way to win the 800m in 2:03.4.
Kelly Proper (St Paul’s CC, Waterford) was also in record form en route a senior girls’ treble. There are just a couple of national long jump records that have eluded her and on Saturday she went close to breaking one of them when she equalled the record which was set by the outstanding Cork athlete, Claire Ingerton, at 6 metres in 1991.
After that she went on to complete her hat-trick by winning the 100m in 12.59 secs and the 200m in 26.37 secs.
Niamh Whelan (Presentation, Waterford) dominated the intermediate girls’ sprints, winning the 100m in 12.41 secs, the 200m in 25.48 secs and the 300m in 41.91 secs while Claire Fitzgerald (Presentation, Tralee) had a treble in the shot, discus and javelin.
Cathal Owens (Glanmire CC), despite the conditions, went close to the qualifying standard for the European Youth Olympics when he won the intermediate boys’ 400m in 50.33 secs. The standard is 50 seconds and the Irish team will be selected after the Irish schools championships while another Glanmire student, Ryan Creech, knocked 13 seconds off his previous best when he won the intermediate boys’ 3,000m in 9:02.22.
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