Sinead O’Connor and Michael Harty retain their respective Cork Senior cross-country titles

Both Sinead O’Connor of Leevale and East Cork’s Michael Harty retained their respective Cork Senior cross-country titles at Carrigadrohid, near Macroom, in an event once again efficiently organised by the West Muskerry club.

While O’Connor’s victory was clear-cut, the same couldn’t be said of the men’s decider which turned out to be one of the most exciting contests in recent years. 

For three of the five laps that made up the 7.5km distance, a group of seven or eight athletes were bunched tightly together.

Going out on the fourth circuit, Harty and his East Cork team-mate Paul Hartnett split the group and with a lap remaining had pulled well clear. However, with around 1000m remaining they were joined by Jeremiah Sheehan from North Cork who jumped into the lead.

Opening a clear gap, it looked all over but Harty bided his time until the last 400m where he sprinted away to win by five seconds with Hartnett – last year’s winner – having to settle for the bronze medal position. 

This was Harty’s third title in four years, a remarkable record considering he was to celebrate his 45th birthday two days later.

“It was a good battle all right, with 800 metres to go you couldn't pick a winner,” admitted the Cloyne man. 

“Jeremiah made his move with about a kilometre left and hammered it, I looked at the watch and then went myself with 400m to go.” 

Two half-marathons in the previous five weeks – one in which he set an Irish M40 record of 65:34 – didn’t seem to blunt his speed. 

“Later in the summer I’ve been training for the half-marathons so I knew I had the mileage but wasn’t sure about the speed.

“So last Sunday morning I went into MTU and did a session of 16 x 400m in 69 seconds, down to 67 seconds, with 100m recovery so I knew then the half-marathons hadn’t taken it out of me.” 

After a disappointing run the week before in the Echo Mini-Marathon, O’Connor was much happier with her third county title in four years. 

“It was a tough course, I got a stitch on the third lap but it was good hard run and I tried to keep a solid effort going.” 

 Sharon Rynne, also Leevale, repeated her silver-medal position from last year but the major surprise of the race was third-placer Meg Ryan of Cork City AC. 

A former gymnastic who represented Ireland at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, this was her first ever race.

“I started running with Cork City where I’m coached by Rob Heffernan and Pa Murphy so I’ll probably stay at the running now, although I like to test out other areas as well,” stated the delighted 23-year-old Douglas native.

One place further back was another relative newcomer to the sport, Emma Fitzpatrick of Leevale, who was the first U23 to finish and along with Michelle Kenny in fifth assured the city club of yet another county team title.

Results:

Men (7.5km): 

1 M Harty (East Cork) 24:52; 2 J Sheehan (North Cork) 24:57; 3 P Hartnett (East Cork) 25:02; 4 G O’Rourke (Leevale) 25:06; 5 F O’Brien (East Cork) 25:18; 6 R Troy (Liscarroll, U23) 25:27; 7 S Doyle (Cork City) 25:35; 8 D Madigan (North Cork) 25:38.

Team: 1 East Cork 22; 2 Leevale 40; 3 North Cork 54.

Women (6km):

1 S O’Connor (Leevale) 22:49; 2 S Rynne (Leevale) 23:14; 3 M Ryan (Cork City) 23:33; 4 E Fitzpatrick (Leevale, U23) 23:52; 5 M Kenny (Leevale) 24:05; 6 B Gaffney (Mallow) 25:22; 7 H Dunlea (Leevale) 26:25; 8 C Fitzgibbon (Grange-Fermoy) 27:30.

Team: 1 Leevale 12; 2 Mallow 42; 3 Cork City 50.