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From Peter Lyons this morning...

Every year thousands of children from all over Ireland travel to the Community Games National Finals. Previously they have been held in Mosney Co. Meath but 2009 saw a change of venue and Athlone Institute of Technology was selected as the new home.

In total, 13 Athenry area athletes made the short trip up the M6 to Athlone; their results and progress are as follows:

* Girls U8 80M - Sinead Lyons (Athenry A.C.)

Came 2nd in her heat on Saturday afternoon, which put her through to the semi-final on Sunday morning. After 3 false starts and a long delay the race finally started but Sinead finished outside the qualification positions in 6th place.

* Boys U12 600M - Oisin Doyle (Craughwell A.C.)

Came in 4th in his semi-final on Saturday afternoon.  In the final on Sunday Oisin fought hard but finished in 5th place and just outside the medal positions.

* Boys U16 1500M - Conor Gillen (Craughwell A.C.)

In his semi final he led the field for the first 2 laps, but as the field started to wind up for the finish Conor slipped back through the field and fell out of the qualification positions. It should be noted that Conor is still eligible for next year and this experience should prove valuable.

* Girls U14 Long Jump - Grace Cahill (Athenry A.C.)

Grace jumped well but none of her jumps managed to get her into the medal positions.  Like Conor she is still eligible for next year.

* Under 12 Girls Relay - Niamh & Eimear Keane, Shannon Lee, Ana Brito & Niamh Hannon. (All Athenry A.C.)

In their heats on Saturday morning they finished 3rd. On Saturday evening in the semi finals the girls ran hard and gained a 4th place finish which qualified the girls for the final. On Sunday afternoon the girls took to the track and in a very quick final came home in 7th place.

* Under 14 Girls Relay -  Grace Cahill, Amy Duggan, Eilis Hynes, Stephanie Maloney, Aine Clancy. (All Athenry A.C.)

In their heats on Saturday morning they finished 3rd. On Saturday evening in the semi finals the girls came close to qualifying for the final but could not close the gap on the 4th place team.

* Under 10 Girls 100m - Siobhan McGrath (Athenry A.C.)

Representing Bullan/New Inn area, she finished 1st in her heat on Saturday.  Later in the semi-final she finished 2nd and in the final on Sunday afternoon she finished in 3rd place and the bronze medal.

* Boys Under 10 200m - Brandon McMenamin (Athenry A.C.)

He was representing Claregalway / Lackagh area. Finished 1st in his heat on Saturday. In the semi-final he finished 4th and in the final on Sunday afternoon he ran well but could not get in the mix for the medal positions.

Well done to all our Athletes who competed and special congratulations to Siobhan on her Bronze medal. Congratulations also to the Athenry U11 Hurlers who took home bronze medals - 6 of the panel, Cathal Hynes, Matthew Treacy, Ryan Collins, Cillian Lawless, Sean Cunningham and Nathan Healy are members of Athenry AC.

Special thanks to the coaches from Athenry A.C.,  Dermot McNamara & Martin Hynes who held training sessions for all the Athenry A.C. members that were representing Athenry and neighbouring areas in the National Finals.