Sheelagh Mai Curran wins 2026 McGrath’s Newsagents Juvenile Colligan Shield
It was great to be back in action again for the McGrath Newsagents Colligan Shield Juvenile race. Sixty young athletes braved the wet weather and made the trip to Colligan to take part in the first race of the year. This event is not about how fast you run but how accurate you are in predicting your time. There was great excitement among our younger athletes as they waited their turn to go and the seniors warming up for their race added to the atmosphere
First off was Maggie Byrne who set herself a target of 15mins 30. The clock counted down and each athlete went off at their predicted time. A big group went off around 11mins, at 10.30 and 10min marks and Natalie Barry at 8.50 was the last off. Thirty eight athletes ran faster than their predicted time. First across the line was Maggie Byrne who was 3mins 20secs faster than her predicted time. Others to run over 3mins faster than they predicted were Rachel Curran and Emma O’Dea. As the clock was ticking down the last 10 secs seven more athletes crossed the line with Shay Connell just five second too fast. Victor Mullins was watching the clock closely and as it was heading to zero several athletes were approaching the finish line but it was Sheelagh Mai Curran who crossed the line to become winner of the race bang on her predicted time. She was followed home by Conor de Burca (2secs), Sinead Houlihan (3secs), next came Eile de Paor followed by Tomás Dalton and Siún Cunningham completed the prizewinners. All six prize winners crossed the line one after the other less than 18 secs outside their time.
Fastest time on the day was by Tiarnan Hogan who covered the 2.2km in 8.38 just ahead of William Mc Nally in 8.51. Isabelle Gaffney was the fastest girl running 9.10.
Well done to all the young athletes who completed the course and a big thank you to Albert McGrath of McGraths Newsagent for his continued sponsorship of this event. Thanks also to all our stewards and officials who helped to run the event and to Victor Mullins whose came up with the idea for the event and who is on hand each year to pick the winner. Full results listed below. Times in red were faster than predicted time.
Colligan Cup 2026
Predicted Plus/ Actual Time
Time Minus Run
1 Maggie Byrne 15.30. 3.20. 12.10.
2 Emma O’Dea 15.15 3.11 12.04
3 Rachel Curran 15.00. 3 12.00.
4 Anna Power 15.00. 2.53 12.07
5 Sibeal Curran 11.47 1.27 10.20.
6 Fia Kiely 14.30. 1.13 13.17
7 Mary Ni Dheagh 13.20. 1.09 12.11
8 Naoise de Burca 14.00. 1.07 12.53
9 Shane Power 12.00. 56 11.04
10 Liam Enright 11.50. 56 10.54
11 Oisin Dalton 10.35 51 9.44
12 Paidí O Deigh 10.35 49 9.46
13 Hannah O’Sullivan 12.00. 48 11.12
14 Sadie Burke 12.10. 48 11.22
15 Bella Daly 14.30. 45 13.45
16 Ciara Crowe 12.45 43 12.02
17 Aisling Ní Treasaigh 14.00. 40 13.20.
18 Mollaí Ni Lonáin 14.00. 40 13.20.
19 William Mc Nally 9.30. 39 8.51
20 Siún Ní Tuathaigh 13.30. 34 12.56
21 Anastasia Ní Chochlain 12.00. 33 11.27
22 Íde Ní Lonáin 13.55 32 13.23
23 Liam Óg O Deigh 12.50. 30 12.20.
24 Mario Zakis 11.34 26 11.08
25 Daniel Curran 9.38 21 9.17
26 Sadie Ní Dheigh 11.03 18 10.45
27 Tiarnan Hogan 8.55 17 8.38
28 Isabelle Gaffney 9.25 15 9.10.
29 Ché O hArtaigh 10.17 14 10.03
30 Jamie Kiely 10.30. 13 10.17
31 Padraigh Shannahan 11.2 13 11.07
32 Colm O’Muiri 10.00. 10 9.52
33 Seadhna O Tuathaigh 10.oo. 9 9.51
34 Devin Ryan 9.35 8 9.27
35 David Kiely 10.32 7 10.25
36 Maeve Kiely 15.20. 6 15.14
37 Etain Ní Mhurchadha 10.30. 6 10.24
38 Shay Connell 10.00. 5 9.55
39 Sheelagh Mai Curran 9.45 0 9.45
40 Conor de Burca 9.45 2 9.47
41 Sinead Houlihan 12.50. 3 12.53
42 Eile de Paor 11.00. 8 11.08
43 Tomás Dalton 10.10. 14 10.24
44 Siún Cunningham 9.25 18 9.43
45 Ben Collins 10.00. 25 10.25
46 Seb Byrne 10.00. 31 10.31
47 Ayla Hogan 11.15 33 11.48
48 Joey Ryan 9.30. 40 10.10.
49 Daniel Houlihan 13.00. 42 13.42
50 Eve O’Keeffe 1500 43 15.43
51 Anna Kiely 13.10. 44 13.54
52 Eoin Tobin 10.55 45 11.40.
53 Ellen Tobin 13.10. 47 13.57
54 Darcy Lavan 9.10. 49 9.59
55 Maya Barry 10.00. 1.07 11.07
56 Natalie Barry 8.50. 1.23 10.13
57 Jack Halpin 9.50. 1.30. 11.20.
58 Maddie Grant 11.23 1.36 12.59
59 Ethan O’Keffe 15.00. 3.53 18.53
Schools Cross Country Friday 16th January
We will be back in the Friary next Friday for the Waterford Schools Cross Country. All the secondary schools in the county will take part in this event. The eight race programme will get underway at 11.am.All help with running the event is welcome so if you are available to help contact Mary Ashe.
The juvenile committee wishes to extend their sincere condolences to the McGrath family on the death of their much loved mother. May Mairead rest in peace.
