Shane O’Hara wins in Emyvale
Shane O'Hara takes the win
A fine day in Whitechurch provided mixed fortunes for the 3 Limerick underage riders. There was a good entry with all the top Munster riders present. The race was won by Eddie Dunbar of Kanturk making a fine break on the second lap and holding out to the flag. Steven Shanahan was the best of the Limerick lads this time with an excellent 4th place beating Michael O’Loughlin winner of the Corkman to the line. Henry Cook and Shane O’Hara both had a subdued performance both clearly feeling unwell after the first lap. The 3 lads were joined by a new Limerick rider for this race Mark O’Callaghan who finished an excellent 8th in his debut road race.
Emyvale GP Monaghan
Date May 24th
This was the third round of the national youth league which Shane O’Hara was a joint leader with Craig Crawford. After spending the week in bed with tonsillitis Shane would be severely tested on the hilly 10 mile lap . Twenty five riders took to the start line on a scorching day; the young riders had 2 laps of the tough 10 mile circuit. The first lap was steady as the riders got familiar with the undulating circuit. The first attack happened just approaching the end of the first lap with a Newry rider going clear on the long drag to the start/finish line. Shane had been hovering at the back of the bunch and decided to test his legs and jumped over to the solo rider. The two lads soon had a nice gap however realizing the danger Darragh Long and Craig Crawford took off after Shane and soon the breakaway had 4 riders. However with the extremely warm temperature the break ran out of water and ended sitting up looking for help from the team cars, Shane dropped back into the bunch for a bottle of water and all riders were soon back together.
The full peleton stayed together until they came back to the main road when the tempo was upped by the riders on the front and soon strung out riders all along the hill to the finish line. Darragh Long of Orwell wheelers was first to jump clear, however he was far too early and the long climb proved too much for him as first Craig Crawford and then Shane pulled him back. As the riders neared the top Craig jumped next with Shane on his wheel and timing his run to the line perfectly Shane passed the Ballymena rider and took his most important victory to date.
This win gives Shane the lead of the National youth league with one round to go in Roscommon on the 25th of July.