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Monday, 22nd July 2024

Eimear strikes gold in Wales and is crowned Irish Champion in Tullamore

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Eimear Cooney with her proud Dad and coach Liam Cooney after winning gold in the National Championships  in Tullamore.

Last Saturday morning Ace AC athlete Eimear Cooney ran for Ireland in the under 18 1500m at the annual Schools International Athletics Board (SIAB) tournament in Wales. Proudly wearing the Green vest of Ireland, Eimear finished in 4th place and secured a new personal best into the bargain.

That was just the start of Eimear’s achievements over the weekend however. After flying home on Saturday night, she drove to Tullamore early on Sunday morning for the National Championships and, in sensational fashion, Eimear won a national u18 Gold Medal!

Cooney, who is a real front runner, was neck and neck with a Dublin based athlete when the bell rang for 400m left. and powered ahead with 150m to go, to become the national u18 3,000m champion.

Eimear’s gold was the culmination of a proud few days for Ace AC that started with Shea O'Donnell running in one of the biggest youth Athletic competitions in the world, the u18 European Championships.

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Shea O'Donnell in Slovakia wearing the green of Ireland.

Shea travelled to Slovakia with the Irish u18 team on Monday and ran in the 1500M heats on Thursday. In what was a super tactical race, Shea was with the leading pack for over two laps but missed out on qualification for the European final, eventually finishing in a very respectable 9th place. The experience will have been invaluable for Shea and no doubts he will already have one eye on qualification for the European U20s in 2026.

Shea isn't the first Ace AC athlete to run at a Major Championships having followed Neil Culhanne who also ran at the European u18s a few years ago.

Stevei Wong ran well in the u18 100m nationals however he didn't manage to get through the heats.

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