Head cold ends Hession's title bid

Paul Hession, the big draw on the second and final day of the Woodie's DIY Senior Track and Field Championships in Santry, was forced to withdraw from the 100 metres today due to illness.

The Galway 200m specialist, who is bound for the World Championships in Berlin in two weeks' time, won his heat at Morton Stadium but pulled out of the event after consulting with his Scottish coach Stuart Hogg.

Hession felt the onset of a head cold on Friday and decided that immediate rest was the best option ahead of the Worlds.

His international colleague, Derval O'Rourke, was another noticeable absentee this afternoon, with a chest infection ruling her out of a defence of her 100m hurdles title.

However, the much-anticipated 800m final showdown between David Campbell and Thomas Chamney did go ahead and the vocal crowd were treated to another memorable battle between these middle distance rivals.

Kildare man Campbell, the 2007 winner, hit the front after 20 metres as he set the pace just ahead of defending champion Chamney from Clonmel.

With both athletes having the 'B' qualifying standard for the Worlds, this really was a winner-takes-all duel.

Chamney, remaining on the shoulder of Campbell, decisively made his move with 150 metres to go and in spite of the best efforts of Campbell he held his lead all the way to the line to retain his title in 1 minute, 49.87 seconds.

Chamney is one of the form men in Irish athletics, having lowered his personal best to 1:45.41 at the recent Bislett Games.

Campbell gained some consolation by clinching gold in the 1500m. The front-running Mark Kenneally was overhauled by Campbell with 250m remaining and the St. Coca's clubman cruised to the line in 3:51.96. Kenneally from Clonliffe Harriers was second in 3:54.05 and Leevale's Mark Hanrahan took bronze (3:54.10).

In one of the closest finishes of the weekend, Ferrybank star Kelly Proper was agonisingly close to winning a hat-trick of senior national titles.

The 21-year-old won the 200m and long jump events yesterday at Morton Stadium but was pipped in this afternoon's 100m final by Leevale's Ailis McSweeney.

McSweeney won her first national title, dipping for a winning time of 12.20, with Proper (12.21) and her Ferrybank club-mate Niamh Whelan (12.31) taking the other podium spots.

In Hession's absence, double Paralympic champion Jason Smyth from Derry was a clear winner of the men's 100m, clocking 10.78 seconds into a headwind of 2.9m/s.

Deirdre Ryan of Dundrum South Dublin, who has the 'B' standard for Berlin, won the high jump with a clearance of 1.83m.

The women's 1500m final had an exciting finish, with Kelly McNeice of Lisburn sandwiched between Sli Cualann duo Deirdre Byrne and Roisin McGettigan. Byrne managed to stretch away to win an excellent race in 4:25.41, with McNeice and McGettigan staying on for second and third.

Elsewhere at the Nationals, Newbridge's Roseanne Galligan was strongest in the final metres as she claimed the women's 800m title, finishing in a new personal best time of 2:04.66.

Former European indoor champion Alistair Cragg, who has been out of sorts of late, got his World Championships preparation back on track with a comfortable gun-to-tape win in the 5000m (13:52.14).

Togher clubman Robert Heffernan, an eighth-place finisher in Beijing and another Berlin-bound athlete, added another national crown to his enviable collection when he successfully retained his 10000m walk title in a time of 39:11.72. Colin Griffin (Ballinamore AC) was second in 4:02.09.

Mark Kirwan of Raheny Shamrocks had a nightmare finish to the 3000m steeplechase. He was leading the field until the final water jump at which he toppled over and got soaked.

His fall allowed Rory Chesser of Ennis Track to overtake him and pull away for the win in a time of 9:03.01, with Sligo's Emmet Dunleavy gaining second place.

Derval O'Rourke's 100m hurdles title was passed to Sandra Lawlor of Celbridge AC, who eased home in 14.69, while Ian McDonald of Crusaders is the new men's 110m hurdles champion, following his winning run of 14.29 seconds.

Marian Andrews from Togher AC won the 400m in 55.02 seconds, while Tallaght's Brian Gregan impressively caught Brian Murphy of UCC at the halfway mark of the men's one-lap event and powered away to take gold in 46.44.

The Careys dominated the 400m hurdles with Michelle Carey (Dublin Striders) winning the women’s race in 57.82 and Tom Carey (City of Derry AC) winning the men’s in 52.28.

Meanwhile, in the field events, Crusaders' Colin Quirke won his second senior title when he finished top of the pile in the discus with a throw of 54.70m. He was the shot put winner yesterday.

Clonliffe Harrier David Donegan collected a new personal best of 4.91m when winning the pole vault, and Leevale's Deirdre Murphy was the women's shot winner with a throw of 10.91.

The Edinburgh-based Stephen Fleming, representing Crusaders, won his third long jump title with a leap of 7.56m (+2.1), with Tullamore's Eoin Hannon and Adam McMullan of Mid Ulster in second and third respectively.

Padraig White of UCD lead from the first round onwards as he secured the hammer title with a best throw of 57.41m, and Ballymena & Antrim athlete Claire Wilkinson cleared 3.60m to take the pole vault gold.