Marcus On Recruiting Trail at Irish Schools Championships

[LSU-Nit]

Marcus was back home, looking for talent, this past weekend. And handing out trophies, as well. The lad in the middle is Tommy Casey of Sligo Grammar, who won the senior boys 1500 in 3:52.47. To the left is Andrew Monaghan of St Colmans (3:55.05) and on the right is Shane Quinn of De LaSalle (3:56.56).

Earlier this year in March, Quinn (19:03) won the Irish Schools senior boys cross country crown by 15 seconds, with Casey 4th (19:40), and Monaghan 6th (19:54).

Link to the story of the meet, with some results is below.

This post was edited on 6/5 11:33 PM by LSU-Nit

Irish Schools Championships

 

[sebastianc]

LSU-Nit, I cannot imagine that Marcus travelled all the way to Ireland to present a trophy. Agree that he must be on a recruiting visit.

The "Irish Examiner" says that he was there to recruit Amy Donaghue. Fine talent (2:09.7, 4:34 in 2010) and great blood lines, but she probably doesn't come out until next year (born 1/7/94). Still, she is born early in the year so maybe she is graduating this year? The real young talent, though, is Ruairi Finnegan and Siofra Cleirigh-Buttner. My guess is that the recruitment of Mark English has moved to new stage.

There seems to have been about a dozen girls recruted for the Fall, but very few boys and only one runner of note - Denault (CAN). So where are the males? The top U.S. talent seems to have already committed. So we are looking at the foreign talent. Thus, Mark English and maybe there is still something going on in Australia (VU has been active there recently)...???

Note: Tom Casey is going to Oklahoma State.
This post was edited on 6/6 8:41 AM by sebastianc

Ireland HS Championships - Irish Examiner

 

[LSU-Nit]

From what I hear, English is not coming to the States this year (if at all). It would be fall 2012 for him, more likely. His coach has an attitude similar that of Eamonn Christie (Ciara Mageean's coach), if you know what I mean. However, I think English is more likely to come stateside than Mageean ever was, even if it's a 50-50 proposition for him.

On the Aussie/Kiwi front, I haven't heard a peep, really. That being said, dating back to the recruting of Blincoe and O'Brien Villanova has consistently been on the radar down there, as the current roster attests. So, maybe something is cooking on that front.

On you final point, keep in mind that Marcus red-shirted Chris FitzSimons, so he'll be a RS frosh to team up with Denault. If FitzSimons doesn't develop into an NCAA nationals contender in the next year or so, I'll eat my hat. McEntee from Perth is young and Marcus seems to have confidence in him: he was scheduled to be in the 4x1500 at Penn Relays, but was bumped at the last minute after Gibney ran so well on the DMR anchor. I assume (less confidently than a year ago at this time) that Ryan Sheridan will be in the mix (although he has a short time horizon). But your point about the male-female imbalance in this recruting effort seems right, given what we know now. Perhaps Marcus has something up his sleeve? It's hard to assess, given that we don't know which guys are on full rides, partial rides, etc. and therefore we don't know what Marcus can offer in any particular year.

 

[sebastianc]

Your logic is impeccable, but ... Why is Marcus in Ireland? He was just there maybe two months ago? Something is up. One doesn't go that far for nothing. And the only talent worth pursuing in this manner is English ... despite what you have heard. The other possibility might be Darren McBrearty, who recently ran 1:47.8. But he is a student at University Dublin, is 2 years older than English, and has been beaten by English the last two times they competed indoors.

Mageean? Sad, little girl. Coach is using her and her parents went along with it. She will never know the joys of team competition or the college experience. Hers is a lonely existence

Australia? Brent Robinson is a possibility. He was suppose to let Marcus know, this Spring (in April), after their outdoor season, if he were interested in coming, but his coach doesn't want him to go. Willliamsz wants to stay home (friends etc), for now, and Rowe is uncommitted. Williamsz' coach (Nic Bideau) has said if he does come to the states, it will only be with Marcus or possibly Lananna. Rowe's coach (Justin Rinaldi) is of a similar view, but Rowe hasn't decided. Kuey Diew wants USC or UCLA. Best prosepcts: Rowe, Steve Solomon and Nicholas Hough.

There has to be something on the horizon for the men otherwise this is a nothing recruitment class ...
This post was edited on 6/7 8:20 AM by sebastianc

 

[LSU-Nit]

Seb, you're way ahead of me on the recruiting front!

On English, the 2012 date was identified explicitly to me by someone pretty much as high up on the VU T&F pecking order as one can get. I drew the assumption (perhaps erroneously) from that that English thinks he has a shot at making the Irish Olympic team for 2012 (or perhaps something important on the European junior circuit) and doesn't want to come to the States until after he gives that a shot. Even if the latter assumption is incorrect, I was told that fall 2011 is not at all likely to English to leave Ireland.

I agree with you that Marcus was not in Ireland just to recruit the Amy O'Donoghue girl. I was wondering if he's interested in Shane Quinn, the kid who won the Irish Schools XC title this March (I need to do some due diligence on that front). On the other hand, English is enough of a stud to merit the short flight from Philly to Dublin, especially when it doubles as a trip back home. Still, the timing of the trip -- making a round trip less than a week before NCAA nationals -- suggests that Marcus has something brewing over there.

 

[sebastianc]

LSU-Nit, cannot dispute what you are saying and especially considering your sources. right now, it looks like it is between English and McBrearty for the third spot as one of Ireland's 800m entries. However, I believe the "A" standard was around 1:46.5, for 2008 Olympics. That might be a bit of a stretch for English. Nevertheless, it is a puzzle as to why Marcus would be visiting Ireland now ... unless it is to pursue some talent that would require his presence. Quinn is not that type of talent. Outstanding at XC, but does not appear to be a miler.
This post was edited on 6/10 11:22 PM by sebastianc

 

[novaclassof90]

He may be just visiting the home land.

 

[LSU-Nit]

I just learned that the Irish Schools XC champ Shane Quinn (see above) is going to attend Providence College (where his father went to school).

 

[UncleBill57]

I think Quinn is from down near Ardmore, Ireland. I understand that no colleges recruited Reid so she visited VU herself because a former Canadian young woman had done so well here. She liked her visit and signed on. Sat next to Gibney's dad at BE championship.

"If a career in Running presented itself I don't think I'd turn it down".

Some Irish people like to visit the olde sod as often as possible.