December former Division 1 club, Lurgan ASC, came to Downpatrick and swam off with the lion's share of the points 639 to Lecale's 505. It was a good meet,
with many close finishes but in some respects the result was a foregone
conclusion.
All swimmers swam well with the most notable swims in the night came from the B and D girls both in relay and individual events. Orlaith Brennan, Ciara
Corrigan, Ellen Murphy, Laura Green and Orlaith Devlin were among those who took seconds off their PBs.
Later in January a greatly depleted squad from Lecale went to Armagh to swim
against City of Armagh SC. This was a smashing meet from the start with the
points staying neck and neck until the final events. Armagh were hoping for
their second win of the season and, on scenting they had a chance of victory,
home team support went through the roof. In the end Armagh's dreams came true, finishing with 579 points against Lecale's 565. The atmosphere and camaraderie between the two teams was a credit to the ethos of both clubs - good swimming, good sports and good fun.
The Lecale side had put up a tremendous battle throughout. C girl, Laura
Dagens, bit the bullet and swam up in the D girls relays. Along with Maire
Gaffney, Helen Smyth and Aimee Rourke, Laura helped secure a convincing first in the 4 x 50m medley relay. It was an evening for going all out; overcoming her
nerves, A girl Claire Hanna took the plunge and completed the daunting 100m
individual medley for the first time. James Mahoney, Niall George, Daniel Molloy
and Nicholas Cleave charged in to first in the medley relay but, despite
nail-biting finishes, found tougher competition during the individual
events.
There were many PBs on the night. Orla Mulholland, Thomas Fitzsimons, Aidan
McCauley, Blathnaid Evans, Katie Lundy, Laura Murphy, Laura Dagens, Diarmuid
Curran, Patrick Sheridan, Richard Cleave and Benjamin Cleave all knocked seconds off their PBs.
Last Saturday Lecale ASC welcomed another former Division 1 club, City of
Lisburn SC, to Downpatrick for their final club meet of the PTL season. Swimming against such a highly ranked club added to Lecale's sense of anticipation and determination. There was a great atmosphere with the air filled with chants, cries and roars of support from both sides.
Lecale's A girls got off to a great start in the medley relays with Chloe
Galloway, Jody Stevens, Niamh Masterson and Kate McCauley storming in to first
place, closely followed by Laura Molloy, Philippa Cleave and Ciara Corrigan and
Lecale again in third place, Anna Maria Lundy, Claire Hanna, Orla Mulholland and Eva Kelly. The points total grew as their dominance continued in all events.
The Lecale B girls faced some stronger competition in the relays but Amy
Godfrey and Megan Rodgers held strong for Lecale in the individual events. All
the Lisburn's boys and their C girls proved tough competition for Lecale across
the board. Though rather than dampening their spirits this spurred the Lecale
side to push more and deliver some tight finishes and great PBs. Significant PB
improvements were achieved by Ruairi Murtagh, Fionn McConvey, Tom Rodgers, Aaron Cooper, Nicholas Cleave, Jamie Hamilton, Jamie Black and Conor Mahoney.
Lisburn were short on older swimmers and this denied the Lecale side of
competition during the medley relay events, however it ensured a significant
points advantage to the home team. Lisburn made plans to remedy this by entering a team of their coaches, all masters swimmers, in the final event 4 x 50m freestyle relay.
In response the Lecale D 'boys' team of Conor Boden and Nicholas Ross
included coach Eamonn Magee and former Commonwealth swimmer, Mark Millar (a.k.a Isla's dad). Despite deafening cheers the outcome was in no doubt and Lecale sailed in to first, second (Ruairi, Kearney, Richard Turley, Rory McMullan, Ryan Sharkey) and third (Benjamin Cleave, Patrick Black, Karl Mulholland, Jonathon Magilton) place. In the end Lecale finished with 561 points to Lisburn's 496.
Lecale wish to thank all the clubs they've competed against this year and
look forward to seeing them next season. Thank you to all the parents who took
on roles as meet officials and provided great post-meet buffets. Thanks to all
the kids who have been our 'runners' at all the meets; Rachel Hanna and Mark
Molloy did a great job on Saturday. Most of all we want to thank all swimmers
who took part in the PTL club meets this year and applaud their talent,
enthusiasm and team spirit.
Looking ahead Lecale will be starting their juniors in the Forest Feast
Aquasprints League in March. Keep an eye on www.lecaleswimclub.weebly.com
for more news and results. For the seniors we have the province-wide PTL time
trials for a chance of qualifying for the PTL finals later in March. And of
course we'll have our annual, whole club, St. Patrick's Day meet on 16th
March.
Click here for Lecale times from Lisburn meet.