All-Ireland title success for Stamullen cyclists

Profile by Jimmy Geoghegan Updated: Wednesday, 31st August, 2011 4:58pm

Effort and determination rewarded

Stamullen M Donnelly cyclists Danny Bruton, Paul Dargle and Ciaran O'Connell who won the u-16 title at the All-Ireland Youth Championships at Roscommon at the weekend.

Months of sustained effort paid off for the Stamullen M Donnelly team of Danny Bruton, Paul Dargle and Ciaran O'Connell when they won the All-Ireland u-16 Team Championship at Roscommon last weekend.

Over the summer the cyclists and their mentors had worked hard to get ready for the event and their efforts were rewarded with the top prize.

The overall championship schedule incorporated racing for all age groups from u-11 up, but it was the u-16s who really sparkled showing the required discipline and drive to take the top prize in their category.

To have any hope of winning the u-16 team prize the riders involved had to perform extremely well in all disciplines and Bruton, Dargle and O'Connell showed the necessary determination and consistency on the day to claim the number one position.

The disciplines included the 8km time-trial on Saturday morning, the 70km road race on Saturday evening and the final event, the town centre criterium which was staged on closed roads in Roscommon town on Sunday morning, with points being awarded in each discipline to all finishers.

All three rode very well in their respective disciplines, especially Saturday's road race where they finished inside the top nine.

"This was a marvellous performance by these young men and any club would have been proud to have such talent in their fold," stated Stamullen secretary Kay Howard.

"The club travelled this long journey with only one goal and that was to win a gold medal in the All-Ireland u-16 Team Championship," she added.

After the last year's All-Ireland championships club chairman Gay Howard put together a plan to work towards winning this year's u-16 team event. Over the past few months Matt Kelly was drafted in to assist in the coaching and training of this young team.

In the past the very successful Stamullen M Donnelly club have won a host of national titles including the All-Ireland junior (u-18) team prize, individual All-Ireland Junior Championships, senior A2 championships, All-Ireland Tanden championship, silver in the All-Ireland senior road races, bronze in the All-Ireland u-16s. Now they can add u-16 gold to that impressive list of honours.

After the presentation the club chairman thanked all those who helped make the sweet u-16 dream come true, Kelly for his invaluable time and dedication in getting these riders into top class racing condition, Conor Bruton who helped all season by taking the riders to various races throughout the country.

He also thanked Bruton, Dargle and O'Connell for sticking to the game plan all through the season and bringing about such a successful result. "They can now have a well deserved rest," added Kay Howard.

Another rider from the north east, Ciaran Campbell from Drogheda Wheelers Cycling Club collected the bronze medal in the All-Ireland Criterium Championship on Sunday.

This was a replica performance he gave in this discipline in 2010 when he also finished in third position. Campbell opted not to compete in the time- trial championship and instead concentrated on the road race and criterium championships where he and all members of the Drogheda Wheelers cycling club were extremely pleased with his bronze medal position.