GAVIN DUFFY

“Gavin Duffy is one of our greatest all-round sportsmen from Rugby to Gaelic Football but perhaps lesser known as an All-Ireland Champion Hammer Thrower.”

Athletics Ireland in a review of the first one hundred years of Schools Athletics rank Cistercian College Roscrea domination of the boys Hammer Competition from 1987 to 2003 as one of the exceptional performances of the first one hundred years.  In that seventeen year period CCR won 31 titles. The 3 Thompson brothers John, Stephen & David from Tullamore all won gold. At junior level CCR won gold in 11 out of the 12 years between 1987 and 1998. At Intermediate level CCR won gold 10 out of 11 years between 1989 and 1998. At Senior they won 10 out of 13 golds from 1990 to 2002. An extraordinary haul of 31 golds out of 36 which stands as a fitting testament to Pat Creagh, a native of Rathdowney, Co. Laois who died in 2001 and was for over thirty years the most successful hammer throwing coach in the Country. He remains the most dominant influence on Athletics in CCR over the past 100 years. Great praise must also go to Father Kevin who fostered and nurtured Athletics in the College for many decades. Indeed the two together represent a golden era for Schools Athletics in CCR.

CCR hold one National Record and that is by John Thompson for the Junior Hammer set in 1992.

Outstanding Hammer Throwers include Joe Byrne, Sean McCann , Connor McCullough, Seamus Lanigan-Ryan, Noel Lynch, Donal Spring, Thomas Murphy, John Monaghan, Michael McGinn, Michael Grace,Barry McCann, Andrew Cody, Peter Tierney, Conor Phelan, Robert Stack, Michael McGinn, David Thompson, Barry McCann, John Palmer, Jim McCormack ,Richard Collins, Ian Fox, J. Flynn, Arthur Spring, John Thompson, Stephen Thompson, Gavin Duffy and J. Phelan. In many instances Hammer throwers won several All Ireland gold medal