Rising star Maeve O'Neill smashes 800m schools' record held by legendary Sonia O'Sullivan since 1987

BY KIERAN McCARTHY

DOHENY AC rising star Maeve O’Neill raced into the history books at the South Munster Schools T&F Championships on Wednesday when she smashed the senior girls’ 800m record held by the legendary Sonia O’Sullivan since 1987.

In an incredible performance, 17-year-old Maeve, a student at MICC Dunmanway, won in a new PB of 2:07.47 and took almost SEVEN seconds off the previous record of 2:14.1 held by Cork and Irish athletics great Sonia O’Sullivan.

What’s more, Maeve’s time is inside the women’s 800m qualifying standard for this month’s European U20s. The Ballinacarriga teenager had set her previous PB last weekend at the national senior championships in Santry.

Bandon AC’s Lauren McCourt, recently crowned national junior women’s 200m champion, took gold in the same distance (senior girls’ 200m) at the same South Munster Schools Championships – and she did it in record-breaking form too. Lauren’s 24.28 broke the record (24.61) held by Tokyo Olympian Phil Healy set in 2013.

Another talented West Cork teen, Nicola Tuthill was in record-breaking form when she won the senior girls’ hammer with a throw of 59.73m. This was 12 metres longer than the previous PB. Nicola also set her new PB of 61.55m when winning silver at the senior nationals last weekend, beating her previous PB of 61.46m that she had set at last month’s AAI Games.