Castledaly athlete named on Irish team for European Championships

Castledaly's Ally Duffy has been selected on the Irish team for the European Athletics U18 Championships will be held in Rieti, Italy from July 16-19.

Ally will be one of almost 1200 young athletes from all over Europe who will be competing at the championships in what is another major milestone in her athletics journey.

The Tullamore Harriers athlete will compete in the 2000m steeplechase, an event where she has an impressive PB of 6:45.00, she set in Milan in May.

Last weekend, the Moate Community School student set a new championship best performance in the event when she won the All-Ireland U17 race on her home club's track after a keenly fought contest. Her time of 6:50.74 was 16 seconds faster than the previous best of 7.06.73 run by Roisin O’Reilly back in 2018.

Rieti is a town which has played host to many significant athletic competitions over the years including the famous Rieti Meeting (an annual athletics event at the Stadio Raul Guidobaldi) in which eight world records have been set, and the 2013 European Athletics U20 Championships.

Ally was coaxed into running for Moate Community School by teacher Emer Gaffey in 2024 and, after enjoying significant success in schools competitions, she decided to join Tullamore Harriers AC.

Since then she has won a haul of medals at provincial and national level and represented Ireland twice already in cross country. Ally, who has been driven on by friendly competition from her brothers Eoin and Josh, along with support from her parents Tanya (née Derwin) and Gordon, is eagerly looking forward to the championships.

The Castledaly teenager has also excelled in football for Cill Óige and Moate CS, for whom she played in the All-Ireland Junior 'A' final earlier this year.