02/06/2026
Another fantastic day for our juvenile athletes at the **Leinster Children’s Games and U12/U13 Juvenile Championships** in Tullamore on Sunday 👏
Highlights included:
🥇 Jack O’Connor & Casey McLoughlin winning the U11 Boys Pairs 60m
🥉 Áine McHugh taking bronze in the U12 60m with a new PB of 8.82
🥉 Darragh Minogue helping the Louth U13 relay team to inter-county bronze
Our young athletes continue to impress on the provincial stage, with medals, personal bests and some outstanding performances throughout the day. Below is the coach's report from a very successful championship outing for DDAC.
Leinster Children’s games and u12/u13 Juvenile championships
Sunday 31st May 2026
Today, 11 DDAC juveniles travelled to Tullamore Harriers Stadium to compete on Day 1 of this year’s outdoor juvenile championships. The competition featured individual and pairs events for the U9, U10, and U11 age groups, while the U12 and U13 categories included individual events and county team competitions. DDAC athletes recorded five new personal bests and won an individual bronze medal, a pairs gold medal, and a county team bronze medal.
In the boys’ 60m sprint, Casey McLoughlin clocked 9.21 seconds, and Jack O’Connor ran 9.46 seconds. Their combined time of 18.67 seconds secured a clear win in the U11 pairs event. In the girls’ U12 60m, Aine Mc Hugh won her semi-final in a new personal best of 8.82 seconds before taking bronze in the final. She later finished fifth in the shot put with a throw of 5.80m. In Heat 4 of the boys’ U13 80m, Darragh Minogue ran strongly to place second and then finished sixth in the semi-final. His heat time of 11.60 seconds was the 11th fastest across all eight heats. He rounded off his day with a strong third leg on the Louth U13 4x100m team, which won bronze in the inter-county relay.
There were also strong performances in the 300m and 600m middle-distance events. In the boys’ U9 300m, Louis Mc Evoy finished sixth in Heat 3 on his first appearance at this level and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Later in the day, he teamed up with Jack Devereaux in the boys’ U9 pairs long jump, jumping 3.10m they placed seventh with a combined total of 5.85m. Jack recorded a jump of 2.75m. It was a very positive day for both athletes, who gained plenty of valuable experience. In the girls’ U12 600m, Eve Cunningham faced a difficult qualifying heat. On two occasions during the race, she had to avoid athletes who tripped and fell, which disrupted her stride pattern and cost her valuable ground on the leading pack. Despite this, she still finished fifth, but unfortunately it was not enough to secure a place in the afternoon final. In the girls’ U13 600m, Lily Maher and Dearbhla Johnson both came through their qualifying heats comfortably. In the afternoon final, both produced personal best performances, with Lily finishing ninth in 1:52.29 and Dearbhla tenth in 1:52.39. In the boys’ race, Cian Bolton won Heat 2 in impressive fashion and set a new personal best of 1:48.02. It was the sixth-fastest time of the day across all heats and the final.
In the field events, Nancy Clerkin delivered an outstanding performance in the girls’ U13 shot put. She improved with each round and recorded a top-class new personal best of 8.32m to finish fifth, an improvement of 28cm on her previous best. In the boys’ U11 pairs long jump, Jack O’Connor and Casey McLoughlin combined for 6.12m to place 12th.
Once again another great day at championship level for the DDAC juveniles. Louis Mc Evoy and Jack Devereaux coming from the mini's are new addition to the competitive enviroment the lads had a great day. Nancy also had a great day.
