The U10/A Girls fought hard for first place with Lecale’s Megan Rodgers taking first in 50m Breaststroke(50.45PB) and 100m Individual Medley(IM)(1:42.98) and Omagh’s Rebecca McKinney taking first in 50m Backstroke, 50m Butterfly and 50m Freestyle, with Megan a close second. Both girls are excellent swimmers and achieved five A grade times between them, which would comfortably qualify them for Ulster open meets. Jordan McClements, Amy Godrfrey and Olivia Mooney swam five PBs between them. With Lecale’s first A Girls team comfortably leading, the second A Girls 4 x 25m Freestyle relay team (Niamh Corrigan, Chloe Galloway, Aoife Masterson and Laura Molloy) managed to hold on to second place until the final leg when Omagh anchor, Rebecca McKinney took the lead from Laura Molloy. Omagh finished second and Laura’s team were a close third.
The Lecale U10/A boys were in top form with Daniel Molloy taking firsts in 50m Backstroke(46.74PB), 50m Butterfly(50.19PB), 50m Freestyle(40.35) and 100m IM(1:46.50PB) and Niall George sailing into first in 50m Breaststroke(53.81PB). Along with Daniel and Niall, Nicholas Cleave, James Mahoney and Fionn McConvey the A Boys managed thirteen PBs in total. An excellent swim by eight year-old Fionn achieved him 3rd place in the 50m backstroke(50.34) recording an Ulster U9 ‘A’ Grade time. Anchor James Mahoney held on to the lead for his team(Fionn McConvey, Nicholas Cleave, Daniel Molloy) in the final leg of the 4 x 25m Freestyle Relay taking victory for Lecale in a nail-biting finish. Despite being a man down, Niall, Aaron Cooper and Fergal Mooney swam a good Medley Relay with Aaron swimming two legs.
The Lecale U12/Bs were well-prepared with Oisin McConvey taking firsts in 50m Backstroke(46.52PB), 50m Breaststroke(52.99) and 50m Freestyle(41.07), coming second to Ciaran McAnulty from Omagh in 50m Freestyle and 100m IM. Starting the gala a man down, Jamie Hamilton from the A Boys swam up and saved the day by completing the relay teams. Jamie, Oisin, Richard Cleave and Daniel McClean scored twelve PBs in all.
Edel Murray from Omagh took firsts in all U12/B Girls individual events with Lecale’s Bethany Williamson coming a very close second in all events. Bethany along with Richard Cleave, Daniel McClean, Jamie Hamilton and Aislinn Boden all contributed to the points haul and managed nineteen PBs between them. Heather Dunne and Aoife McGrady swam well in the relay teams and individual races.
The U14/C teams from Lecale and Strule Dolphins were so closely matched that only two points separated them at the end of the night. Lecale’s C Girls were strong with Sarah Sharkey winning four individual events and Helen Smyth, Keeva Naughton and Maire Gaffney tidying up second and third places. There was tough competition in the 50m Butterfly with Omagh’s Katie McIlroy holding off Lecale’s Sarah Sharkey for first place.
The Lecale U14/C Boys had strong competition with Omagh’s Conor Blee taking care of all first places and Conor McKinney taking second in backstroke and IM. Second places went to Lecale’s Rory McMullan in 50m Freestyle(31.20), Peter Hunt in 50m Butterfly(39.19) and Callum Mahoney in 50m breaststroke(42.31) and along with Sean McConvey, Tiarnan Maguire, Adam Prenter and Ben Cleave, they swam ten PBs between them.
Lecale O15/D Girls teams were in winning form for both the 4
x 50m Medley and Freestyle Relays. Rachel and Vicki Galloway, Emma Sharkey Hannah Hughes and Leah Hunt took the first and second places in all individual events. The second D Girls 4 x 50m Freestyle Relay team, anchored by Aisling Fitzpatrick, held off Omagh’s first team to take second place.
Lecale’s O15/D Boy Ruairi Kearney had a tough challenge with Omagh’s Callum McKinney. Ruairi rose to the occasion, narrowly taking first in all individual events apart from the 50m Butterfly when Callum won by 0.06seconds. Ruairi Kearney, John McGuckin, Nicholas Ross and Ryan Bowman made up the 4 x 50m Freestyle Relay team but again Callum McKinney was just too fast snatching the lead from Lecale in the final leg and taking Omagh to first place by 1.5seconds.
Overall it was a great meet with both clubs giving their all but in the end Lecale took victory with 584 points to Strule Dolphins’ 560 points. We’d like to thank Strule Dolphin’s for the competition and we look forward to a re-match in Omagh next season. Congratulations to the Lecale squad on holding out to the end and representing their club in a respectful and chivalrous manner. Full results will be posted on club website soon.