Mayo club picks up prestigious national awards
Moy Valley AC were named Development Club of the Year at the Athletics Ireland Awards.
At the Athletics Ireland Awards ceremony in the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Santry, Dublin, Moy Valley Athletic Club were awarded the Best Developmental Club award.
There were further accolades for Mayo with Moy Valley AC coach Deirdre Clarke and Ballina native Daniel Kilgallon both awarded prestigious European Athletics coaching awards.
Moy Valley Athletic Club was established in 2016 by a group of dedicated coaches and athletes with the aim of promoting athletics in the Moy Valley region of North Mayo drawing on a lot of collective experience and expertise amongst the initial team of coaches. Since then, the club membership (athletes and coaches), participation levels and successes have been on an upward trajectory.
With membership numbers currently standing at 390, the club is now one of the larger clubs in Mayo and Connacht. The club membership includes age groups from seven up to 50+ years, with training groups for little athletics, juveniles incorporating Fit for Youth, junior to senior competition group incorporating partially sighted athletes and a developing adult section incorporating adults of all fitness levels. The club also have a number of competitive Masters athletes.
Moy Valley AC has won awards in Mayo for best cross-country club and best track and field club for the past number of years based on successes at national and international level. Other club accolades include Connacht club of the year for both cross country and track in 2023.
The club competes in all Mayo, Connacht, and All-Ireland cross-country and track and field competitions and has enjoyed national success at: cross-country, children’s games, track and field, and road championships.
The distinctive club colours have made a mark on the national stage where honours have been won in all juvenile age categories from U9 to U19, U20, U23, Senior and Masters across all disciplines of the sport: run, jump, walk and throw.
2024/2025 has been one of the most successful periods to date, and it coincided with Keelan Kilrehill’s historic victory in the All-Ireland Senior Men’s cross country race in Fermanagh - the first time a Connacht athlete won the senior men’s title in decades. A club member since 2016, Keelan has been a groundbreaker for the club, having been a member of Irish cross-country teams that secured medals at both European under-20 and European under-23 grades.
Since the founding of the club, Keelan Kilrehill, Joanne Loftus, Clodagh Gill, Darragh Mulrooney, Sean Nolan, Luke Johnson have all represented Ireland coached by Philip Finnerty. Juvenile athletes also won national titles at cross-country, and the club won a number of team medals under the guidance of our team of juvenile cross-country coaches.
For the past number of years, the club race walkers have been present on the podium at national and now international level with former Olympian Deirdre Gallagher as coach. Seamus Clarke won the first European individual medal for the club with a hard-earned silver in the European under-18 championships. Jake O’Brien, Seamus Clarke, and Pearl Sands have represented Ireland at international level in the last year. Both Damien Moyles and Fionán Ruane have represented Ireland with distinction in the T13 class and Damien was a European Youth Gold Medal winner in the 400 metres T13 and Silver Medal winner in the T13 100 metres. These achievements illustrate the club’s development in international competition.
Many of the club coaches and athletes participate in the regional development and performance squads and enjoy meeting up with the athletes from other clubs. The club endeavours to maintain close links with the schools in the region. The club has hosted both the North Mayo and Mayo Primary Schools Cross Country competition for the past number of years. For some athletes in schools, this is their first opportunity to experience a race with a high number of competitors. Some join the club as a result.
Like any growing club, Moy Valley AC is trying to support their club athletes as best they can in a wide range of athletic disciplines. There is a lot of upskilling and progress being made to support jumping and throwing disciplines at present. The club has not finished developing.
