John Longan wins the Barry O’Sullivan Memorial Dromahane 5km

Tue, 28 Apr, 2026 - 09:39

John Walshe

St Finbarr’s athlete John Longan made it a winning debut at the Barry O’Sullivan Memorial Dromahane 5km, while Carol Finn of Leevale ran 16 seconds faster than last year when retaining the women’s title.

In ideal conditions of an early spring evening, just over 200 runners took to the undulating out-and-back route in this Dromahane Roadrunners AC promotion.

Longan took the lead on the return journey and at the finish had almost 100 metres to spare over last year’s winner, Darren Coleman of the Mallow club.

An indication of the hilly nature of the course can be seen from the winner’s time of 16:27 which was 50 seconds outside his best.

A native of Dungarvan, Longan only took up running seriously a few years ago and already this season has a number of impressive performances, especially over 10 miles.

Although having to settle for second, Coleman was equally delighted with his time of 16:41 which was 22 seconds faster than his winning effort of last year.

Gemma O'Sullivan, daughter of the late Barry in whose memory the race is held, pictured with the first three in the women's race at Dromahane: Breda McGinn, second; Carol Finn, first; Clotilde Fitzgibbon, third. Picture: John Walshe

Third was Patrick Buckley of Duhallow in 16:45 with former professional cyclist Paídi O’Brien from Banteer, now running for the Mount Hilary club, finishing 10th in 17:59.

Carol Finn has been a regular at the race since wining the first two events in 2016 and 2017 and she also has three runner-up spots to her credit. Her time on this occasion of 18:17 was again an improvement on the 18:33 she recorded last year.

Second was Armagh-native Breda McGinn, who now lives in Aghabullogue, in 18:49 with Clotilde Fitzgibbon of Grange-Fermoy third in 19:46.

Efficiently organised by the local club for a modest entry fee of €15, the race had a real community feel to it which was evident from the huge local involvement on the night.

Dromahane Roadrunners AC has now been in existence for 11 years and fundraising for various charities has played a major part over that period.

Since 2022 the club has raised a total of €46,140.74 for Cork Cancer Research Trials, ICU CUH and Marymount Hospice.

Last year, €3,000 was raised for Marymount which this year again was the chosen cause to benefit from the race.

Results:

Men:

1 J Longan (St Finbarrs) 16:27; 2 D Coleman (Mallow) 16:41; 3 P Buckley (Duhallow) 16:45; 4 F Murphy (Donoughmore) 16:53; 5 E O’Connell (Duhallow) 17:06; 6 K McKeown (Grange-Fermoy, M50) 17:06.

Women:

1 C Finn (Leevale) 18:17; 2 B McGinn (unatt, F40) 18:49; 3 C Fitzgibbon (Grange-Fermoy, F50) 19:46; 4 E Hanley (Grange-Fermoy, F40) 20:08; 5 M Buckley (Donoughmore, F60) 21:31; 6 G Murphy (Mount Hilary) 21:43.