Conditions were perfect for the Munster cross country championships at Piltown, Carrick on Suir yesterday. Most people were agreed that this was probably one of the best cross country venues in the country.
Ciaran O’Lionaird continued on his winning ways with another fluent victory in the under 18 race, adding to the under 17 title won in Castlehaven. Rory Chesser from Ennis stayed with him for half the race, but then Ciaran was away on his own for a seemingly effortless win.
Alec Daunt ran another solid race to finish 10th, while Chris Horgan was 28th and Tadgh McCarthy 40th to give the team third place medals.
Eric Curran ran a fearless race at under 14 level, showing no 
respect whatsoever to his more experienced rivals. Only into running since August he raced into the lead from the start and was still leading with 200m remaining. John Francis from Ferrybank had to dig deep to get past Eric in the last 100m but Eric will have learned a lot from the race and was well deserving of the silver medal.
The Leevale under 10 girls ran superbly to win bronze team medals. Their team total of 81 points was just three points behind the winning Ferrybank team. 
They were led home with a great run by Louise Kelly in third place and Sorcha Ni Dheasmhunaigh in ninth.
Denis O’Sullivan gave another great account of himself in the under 12 race to finish fifth. He unfortunately missed his under 11 race in Castlehaven. And John Collins is making good progress after health problems during the summer, finishing 17th in the under 16 race.
The National cross country championships take place on Sunday week just down the road in Dungarvan.