Youghal Athletic Club

13/10/2026

13/10/2026

Youghal AC athletes were in action at home and overseas this weekend.

First up we had Kieran Bennett who smashed another major marathon over in Chicago in a time of 4:34:38. You’re ticking them off the list Kieran!!! Congratulations and enjoy the celebrations.

Next we had Chris, Nicola, Siobhan and Siobhan who took part in the Solas 10km in Dungarvan. Great running from all. #

We also had John Mason and Donna Savage once again smashing the Gaelforce Howth 10km. Super running as usual guys.
Congratulations to you all. 👏👏👏👏

12/10/2026

12/10/2026

Cork County Uneven age Cross Country Championships 2026

Bing Crosby sang a song “Great Day”, an inspirational song about keeping your head up and knowing a great day was coming.
Youghal Athletic Club did indeed have their heads up after a great day at the Even age Equivalent just a Week earlier after a very successful outing.
Nobody could have forecast what was to unfold on this Day however. A historic and memorable day, the likes unwitnessed by any who made the trip or indeed ever in the 59yr History of the modern day Youghal A/C.
It was fitting that in our 59th Year, 59 Young Athletes toed the paint (surely a record in itself) of the Start Line. We'll have to get a bigger tent was bantered about as the Youngsters spiked up and readied for action.
Warmup done, last few words of encouragement from the Coaches and the all important Good Luck Hug from Family, the U9’s headed for the start line.
11 Girls giddy with excitement and nerves performed magnificently, led home by Ailbhe McCarthy. Ailbhe was just pipped on the run in for Gold having to settle for Silver on this occasion.
Isabelle O’Shea was a close 15th with Ellen McGuigan 26th. Just a few places separated the rest of our Girls with the all important 4th scorer Emily Ring leading the pack of Lucy Morrison, Beth Hogan, Ivy Cronin, Leah Mackey, Amaia Flaherty, Sophie Walsh and Kitty O’Donoghue.
Scores totted, the Girls secured a Team Bronze medal with just 1point to spair over 4th. That just proves the fact that every place in a XC team is vital.
Next up the U9 boys were expectant of a good placing. They totally dominated the Team event taking Gold with a large gap back to 2nd.
John Barron wasn't giving an inch, taking a great 5th overall followed by Team mate Fionn Tobin in 6th. Both receiving individual medals. Oisin Byrne had a great run to take 10th with Cian Curran 25th. Cayden Hennessy, Rian Walsh, Paudi Carroll, Colm Courtney, Hugh Kelleher and Beaudin D’Ardis were close behind. A fantastic Team in the making.
2 races in and already a great day, our U11Girls in now deteriorating Weather hurtled towards the first bend. This was the team that we anticipated would be very competitive on the day and they fulfilled that promise. Reidin Walsh finished 3rd followed by Ellie Murray who had a bad start in joint 6th both with individual medals. Annelise Kelleher and Sadhbh Barry completed the scoring with Isabelle Walsh and Penny Moylan just behind. The injured Billy Fox showed huge bravery to even finish with super runs from Clara Kelleher, Ally Faul, Aoibhinn Matthews, Sadie Donegan, Lucy O’Brien, Caoimhe May Hennessy, Aisling Murphy, Emily O’Mahony and Eabha Hogan. The Girls secured a Team Gold and are the 2026 County Champions.
For some reason we have a small group of U11 boys with the bare 6 toeing the line. But what a 6 they are. Team Silver was the outcome with Brian Kelleher starting to get fit again in 10th, Rian Tobin in 13th, Hunter O’Rourke 16th and Oscar Ryan 19th. Cian Byrne had a great finish with Tim Llewellyn just behind. The Boys can look forward to the Munster Championships and will be eager to qualify for the All Ireland Championships.
Just 4Girls in the U13 race from Youghal showcasing the enormous drop off in participation from 12yrs up. But what an amazing bunch of Brave Girls they are. Ella Flanagan in Her first proper race cruised to a 16th place finish with loads left to come. Siofra McDonnell running XC for the first time showed Her sprinting qualities up the Home stretch with Emily Courtney right on Her heels. The ever consistent Layla Flaherty finished the scoring for Youghal.
You know what your getting from the U13 boys. A real tough bunch. Brogan McCarthy hit the gantry first in a super 4th place with Darragh Curran in 16th. Conal McNulty followed with Jake Hickey and the battling duo of Gary Batt and Darragh McGrath O’Mahony closing out a Team performance taking Bronze. The lads were just 6points off Silver and a mere 2point off being fourth. Yet again, the importance of every place.
The U15 Boys were to close out proceedings from a Youghal perspective. It's a simple game at times, do your job, work hard, keep building to bigger days ahead.
Gold was never in doubt from the gun. Diarmuid Murphy as usual lead the Team home in 2nd overall, Olan Rochford 4th, the ever closing James Kelleher 5th and Sean O’Doghue 9th.
Fionn Byrne had a great race in 15th with Shay Walsh in 17th.
These lads are just back training a couple of Weeks and will again be a force at National Level. All but Sean were running up in age.
There's no words to sum up what was witnessed
I'll leave you with this.
6 Teams and 9 individuals medalled on the day with a total of 45 medals returning to Tower Park.
Roll on the adventure, next up Munster Championships.

11/10/2026

Breaking news from Ballynoe….. report and photos to follow. 👏👏👏

05/10/2026

Club tent returned safely to it's Home in Tower Park. There was a satisfaction in closing the
door on this chapter of Competition and an eagerness for what's to come for the rest of the
Season.
Cork County Even age Cross Country 2026 brought a return to Carrigadrohid and the inevitable
hills, now familiar to those who have run here before.
A slight change in route, starting with a nice downhill section under broken cloud as opposed to
the steep uphill start from 12 months ago and damp conditions. It was a day of donning and
doffing the jackets for the duration.
So many green and white hoops congregated at the Tent, it was a job in itself to get numbers
organised, walk the course, warm up and give some final words of encouragement.
Our U10 Girls were first to the start line. No fewer than 16 Girls side by side. A sight to behold
and not seen for many many years, if ever before.
A cavalcade of 124 girls set off at break neck speed down the Hill with lots of Youghal singlets
to the fore.
Excellent performances all round seen the Girls secure team Silver with Isabelle Walsh a
fantastic 7th, just one position outside the individual medals. This is the first Girls County Team
medal for quite a few years and is proof that the Club is going in the right direction. Plus most of
these Girls were running in their first competitive race.
The boys followed and hopes were high for good performances. A brilliant run from Oscar Ryan
seen him finish 5th overall securing an individual bronze with just 2 places back to Hunter
O’Rourke. All 10 of the boys did superb with Oisin McNulty and Tim Llewellyn crossing together
in 22nd and 23rd as third and fourth scorers.
Fionn Tobin, Cian Curran, Cayden Hennessey, Colm Courtney, Cullie Rockford and Oisin Byrne
all scored well ensuring the Boys finished with Team Silver.
Two races, an individual Bronze and two Team Silvers. We could have packed up and gone
home happy with our day, before another lace was tied.
Just 5 U12Girls toed the paint for their race accompanied by 97 other young ladies from Durrus
to Midleton and all in between. 13Clubs represented in all with our Girls settling for a mid table
7th
Just 13seconds between our First and Fourth finishers seen a strong team performance. Megan
O’Connor lead the team home with Addison Dardis, Siun Rockford, Kate O’Connell and Keeva
Walsh. Lots more to come from this Team in the next few Weeks with most just returning to
training.
The U12Boys too were mid table with a Sixth out of eleven placing.
Darragh Curran, Brian Kelleher and Finn Russell had their own battle to see who would hit the
gantry first with just 5places between them. Cian Byrne and Rian Tobin followed close behind
with Darragh McGrath O’Mahony closing out a fine Team performance.
We had no U14 Girls so next up for Youghal Athletic club were the U14 Boys. Missing 5of Last
Year’s All Ireland runners up Team due to other commitments we didn’t expect too much in
terms of Team outcomes. We knew Olan Rochford would have a strong run and duly lead up to
the last 300 metres of the 3k race. Lack of race fitness caught him out though and on the last
climb slipped to Fourth position overall.
Another Medal to add to the ever growing mound.
Boosted by the return of Peter Mcguigan after a few Years concentrating on other Sports the
Team secured a fantastic Bronze medal with Brogan McCarthy a super 11th running up in age.
Conal McNulty having his best race ever in 20th and the brave Peter in 30th
Huge admiration to Peter for joining us. No training done, up against the best that County Cork
has on offer. That takes guts. Anyone who has ever run Cross Country will tell you that it’s
bloody hard and to come and run 3k on a hilly course took real bottle.
Last but not least in the hoops was Sean O’Donoghue. Running up in age to gain valuable race
fitness ahead of next Sundays event. A super run against Older more experienced runners seen
Sean finish an excellent 23rd in the U16 race.
Ruby Devereaux may be running under different colours this Year but many of our Athletes and
their Families were not leaving before His race. Ruby delivered as Ruby does with a front
running start to finish Gold medal.
It’s Ballynoe next Sunday 11th for the County uneven age. Another large group will heading up
the road in anticipation of more success and a great day out. It’s heartening to see a bunch of
kids out in the open, not a care in the World, having fun, chatting,playing and not a phone in
sigh

27/09/2026

Breaking news from Berlin. Congratulations to Maurice Walsh and Susan Dineen on their phenomenal performances in the Berlin Marathon. It was Susans first marathon and I’m sure it won’t be her last.

Maurice Walsh. 3:17:11
Susan Dineen. 3:55:12

Congratulations to you both and enjoy the celebrations 👏👏👏👏

23/09/2026

A few from the last week or so….
Youghal AC athletes were out in force at home and abroad. First up was the Charleville Half marathon where we had three athletes taking part producing some savage running.

Tom O Neill. 1:28:19
Brian Walsh. 1:41:13
Mossy O Mahony 1:53:31

Abroad, Donna Savage and John Mason took on the night run in Cervia whilst out supporting family and friends who were competing in the full and half Ironman.

Ted and Connor took the trip up to Lahinch for the half marathon last Sunday. Connor was drafted in last minute and nearly fell asleep halfway🤣 As you can see he was fit to kill Ted at the end. They both got over the line after a hilly half in 1:43:00.

Congratulations to our members and to the members of Southcoast triathlon club who competed in the Ironman and half Ironman over the weekend. Savage racing from you all. 👏👏👏👏

18/09/2026

T-SHIRT UPDATE 👕🏃‍♀️🏃‍♂️
We want to apologise to anyone who didn’t receive their race T-shirt on the day. We had a huge influx of entries in the days leading up to the race, as well as a number of entries on the day itself, and unfortunately the numbers were much higher than we had anticipated.
We really appreciate your patience and understanding while we got everything sorted.
We’re delighted to say that the T-shirts have now arrived! 🎉 We took the details/numbers of everyone who didn’t receive one on race day, and we’ll be getting these posted out over the coming week.
If you’re local and would be happy to pick up your T-shirt instead of having it posted, please send us a DM and we’ll arrange it with you.
Once again, a massive thank you for your patience, understanding and support — we really appreciate it! ❤️

14/09/2026

Well done to all our athletes who ran their hearts out in Ballynoe👏👏👏
Some of whom ran their first XC race, ye did your club very proud👏
Youghal cleaned up with a massive haul Individual and Team medals.
It’s a mighty start to the XC season well done to you all❤️