Ó Croinín and Griffin set for showdown

The Aviva All-Ireland schools championships could produce one of the most exciting 800m races in the history of the event at Tullamore today.

Dean Ó Croinín, Coláiste an Phiarsaigh, Glanmire, has came off a superb indoor season with both his club, Blarney/Inniscarra, and school to cruise to an emphatic victory at the Munster schools championships recently.

The following day he travelled to Santry for the Woodies DIY AAI Games and beat Mullingar’s Shane Fitzsimons in a thrilling 800m that saw both of them run inside the B standard for this year’s World Junior Championships in Barcelona.

Last weekend he was one of more than 50 Irish athletes in action in Oordegem, Belgium, where he finished fifth in a new PB of 1:49.93.

His main rival will be Karl Griffin from Abbey VS in Donegal, who has also been setting the track alight in recent weeks. After cruising through the Ulster schools championships he turned out in the IMC meet in Greystones last weekend and beat Fitzsimons in 1:49.63 which broke the Irish youths record.

Meanwhile, Sean Tobin (High School, Clonmel), who won the intermediate 3,000m last year and went on to compete in the European Youth Olympics, is now chasing the 1,500m standard for the World Junior Championships.

World youth champion race walking champion Kate Veale, from St Augustine’s in Dungarvan, who took time out from her Leaving Cert studies to post a sixth place at the Grand Prix in Russia recently, is also targeting the junior championships.

The senior girls’ 800m produced a shock at the Munster schools championships in Cork when Sarah O’Shea from Beara Community School, who quit athletics at age 12 to concentrate on football, returned to dethrone defending champion Amy O’Donoghue from Villiers.

That was Amy’s first ever schools defeat and she will be defending her 800m and 1,500m titles today before leaving for Arkansas on scholarship.

Sarah Lavin from Castletroy College set a record at 13.91 seconds when winning the 100m hurdles at the Munster championships and the following day was again inside the B standard for the world juniors at the AAI Games. She will be favourite for the senior girls’ title this time around.