From our correspondent, Sean Kindregan:

All Ireland Juvenile Athletic Finals 2009 (under 9, 10, 11)

The All Ireland Finals in under 9,10 and 11 were held recently in the fine new track facility in Templemore.

The format for theses age groups is to compete in pairs, the pair of athletes with the fastest combined time, longest combined throw or best combined jumps wins the particular event. The events for theses age groups are sprint, long distance race, long jump and ball throw.

There were also relay finals in each age group, athletes had to qualify for the finals from the provincial finals.

There were brilliant performances from all the athletes involved, Athenry had 5 pairs in the boys events and 4 pairs in the girls events and 3 relay teams also qualified.

One All Ireland Gold medal, one All Ireland Silver medal and one All Ireland Bronze medal were won in the individual events. Two of the three relays won Bronze All Ireland medals.

The first pair of athletes to get a mention did not win a medal but came 4th they were 0.05 of a second away from third place and a bronze medal, they were Brandon Lee and Aubrey O Brien and the event was the under 9 60m sprint. How close can you get.

The All Ireland Gold medal winning pair were Elisha Woods and Niamh Hannon in the under 10 60m, the All Ireland Silver medal winning pair were Jack and Aubrey O Brien in the under 9 long jump, the All Ireland Bronze medal winning pair were Brandon Lee and Dean Treacy under 9 300m.

Brandon & Dean

The other two pairs to compete in the boys events were Brandon McMenamin and Niall Martin who came 5th in the under 10 60m and Brandon McMenamin and Cillian Lawless were 6th in the under 10 ball throw.

The other three pairs to compete in the girls events were Sarah Gillhooly and Emiear Quinn in the under 9 long jump, Aoibhinn Carr and Niamh Hannon in the under 10 500m and Siobhan McGrath and Stephanie Quinn in the under 10 60m.

Mathew Treacy and Jack Dempsey also qualified for the under 11 60m but could not compete as Jack was unavailable, their times in the Connacht finals would have placed them in the shake up for the medals.

The under 9 boys won an All Ireland Bronze medal, the team was Brandon Lee, Aubrey O Brien, Dean Treacy and Oisin Rowe.

The under 10 girls won an All Ireland Bronze medal, the team was Siobhan McGrath, Niamh Hannon, Stephanie Quinn and Elisha Woods. Lydia Doyle was a part of this team but was unavailable for the finals.

U-10 relay team

The boys under 10 relay team were unfortunate not to qualify for the final, they were in a very strong heat which had the eventual gold, silver and bronze medal winners and their time would have won the other heat.

The under 10 boys team was Brandon McMenamin, Niall Martin, Cathal Hynes, Cillian Lawless, Sean Cunningham and Neathan Healey.

These fine performances did not happen by accident, a lot of work was done by two people in particular Sinead Healey and Martin Hynes.