Longford Swimming Club

Double All Ireland Gold for young Longford Swimmer

Swimming champion Mark O'Boyle (Melview N.S) swept the boards last weekend at the All Ireland Minor Schools Championships in the National Aquatic Centre. Mark, swimming in U9 Backstroke and Butterfly events,gave us two fantastic swims and brought the double Gold home to Longford. In the 50m Backstroke event Mark won in a time of 43.36, a clear 5 seconds ahead of his nearest rival. In 50m Butterfly Mark swam a 3 second P.B. and in a time of 42.37 he stood on the podium to collect his second Gold medal. Well done Mark !!

Sinead McWeeney (Melview N.S.) had an incredible swim in Under 10 50m Backstroke. Sinead was leading at the half way through the race with a strong turn, but in an extremely close finish Sinead had to accept the Silver medal and was thrilled with her new P.B - 40.01. Sinead's second swim was 50m Butterfly and in a time of 42.10 Sinead was placed 6th - definately a swimmer to watch in the future.

Stonepark N.S swimmer, Gerry Quinn won Longford's second Silver medal. Gerry swimming Under12 50m Butterfly had to swim against tough opposition and in a very tight finish was narrowly beaten into second place. Gerry had a super P.B and can be very proud of his 33.79 50 fly. Gerry was placed 5th in his other event - 100m Individual Medley ( 25m of each of the four swimming strokes). A very tough race, indeed Gerrry's time of 1.18.53 placed him just outside a medal position.

Ciaran Madden (Scoil Mhuire, Newtownforbes) was our final medal recipient. Ciaran swam in Under 12 50m Backstroke and Butterfly events. Ciaran is proving to be a superb Backstroke swimmer and in a time of 34.54 (P.B) Ciaran collected a bronze medal. Perhaps a little disappointed, as Ciaran was pipped at the finishing line. He had been dominating the race in the early stages, indeed the first three swimmers all finished within 2 tenths of a second of each other !. Ciaran was a little unfortunate in the Butterfly finishing fourth in another tight and competitive race.

Other performances to be highlighted were those of Aoife O'Brien (Gaelscoil Longphort). Aoife was placed 4th in 50m Under 10 Breastroke in a personal best time of 49.91. Tadhg Mc Nevin (Stonepark N.S) finished 7thin under 9 Freestyle . Aaron O'Connor (Scoil Mhuire) was also placed 7th in under 10 50m Breastroke in a time 50.83. Shane O'Hanlon ( Tashinny N.S) had a new personal best 40.43 and also finished 7th in under 11 50m Backstroke.

Dearbhaile Rooney (Melview) and Sinead Mulhern(Stonepark) competed in their first national swimming gala. Both girls competed in under 9 50m Backstroke and again achieved faster times than they had previously swam in Connacht. Ebony McGrath ( Gaelscoil) swam in under 10 50m Butterfly and is improving with every swim. Also competing admirably for Longford schools Under 11 was

Dearbhaile Madden (Scoil Mhuire) - freestyle and backstroke; Aoife Mulhern (Stonepark) - Butterfly and Eilis Kenny (Gaelscoil Longphort) - Breaststroke. Ciaran O'Hanlon (Tashinny N.S) - Butterfly and freestyle; Frank Mckiernan (Gaelscoil Longphort) - Butterly and Backstroke; and Shane O'Hanlon (Tashinny) - Butterfly and Backstoke were our three representatives in the boys' under 11 section.
In girls' under 12 we also had three qualifiers - Ailbhe Farrell (Stonepark N.S) swam in both 100m Individual medley and Backstroke; Tara Nevin - Individual medley and Eimear O'Brien 100m Individual Medley.

Our only relay on the day came from Foireann Gaelscoil an Longphoirt - Tara Nevin, Eimear O'Brien, Aoife O'Brien and Eilis Kenny. This team gave a super performance and just missed out on a medal finishing in fourth position - Maith thú, cailiní bhí sibh go hiontach !

A total of nineteen Longford swimmers had qualified to swim in these Championships - this is in itself a huge achievement for some of our younger swimmers. Swimmers gained qualification times after swimming in the Connacht Schools Gala held in Leisureland last November. A huge well done to all our swimmers - each one a champion in their own right.