THE performance of Sean Corry to take the Junior Boys title was one of a number of notable performances from Fermanagh athletes at the Ulster Schools Cross Country Finals at Mallusk, on Wednesday last.
The athletes from five schools yielded a total of four podium finishes, three team medals and a total of 20 qualifiers for the Irish Schools Finals at the same venue on the City of Belfast Playing Fields.
Corry, who won the Mini Boys race the last time the championships were held in 2020, weeks before the first lockdown due to Covid 19, lined up as one of the pre-race favourites in the Junior Boys age group. Over the first 300m Corry along with St Michael’s teammate Tiernan Mc Manus were right up there and ready to cover any early race surges.
As the athletes completed the first of two 1600m laps Luke McCausland and Corry had a 10-12 metre lead on McManus in third. The last lap turned into an intriguing battle with the lead changing hands on numerous occasions as the RBAI athlete tried to break the resilience of the Enniskillen athlete, as he knew the speed Corry possessed in the final quarter mile.
Despite doing all he could, Mc Causland had to surrender that Corry was not to be denied as the St Michael’s athlete turned on the burners and eased away to impressively take the title by 13 seconds.
Meanwhile, Tiernan McManus had an excellent run to take third but was pushed all the way by another St Michael’s athlete Daithi Mohan who closed the race quicker than anyone in the chase pack to take 4th which was a big breakthrough for this young man.
Having three in the top four, the St Michael’s supporters were anxiously looking for their fourth scorer and a tremendous final lap from Tom McMahon saw the Roslea lad close out the scoring team in 35th position which meant that St Michael’s took the team title comfortably on a score of 43 points ahead of St Colman’s Newry on 71 points, with St Pat’s Armagh in third.
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