Enda Doherty and Niamh Farrell win Donegal Novice Cross Country titles

Enda Doherty (Finn Valley AC) and Niamh Farrell (Letterkenny AC) won the individual golds at the Donegal Novice Cross Country Championships on Sunday.

At the Mullaghderg Banks, Doherty led Finn Valley AC to the men’s team gold with Farrell guiding the Letterkenny AC women to golds.

In a tense tussle over 6km, Doherty just held sway from Letterkenny AC’s Dale Corbett to take the prize.

Doherty, whose father Patsy Doherty was the Donegal Senior Cross Country gold medal winner back in 1976, has been a solid competitor for Finn Valley AC over the years and he was the leading light for his team.

Ben Carr placed third for Finn Valley AC with Shaun Bannigan in fifth and Padraig Og McDermott in 16th completing the scoring for the winners.

Farrell pulled away from Finn Valley AC’s Sally McMenamin to take the women’s title with McMenamin second and Erin Pyper of Milford AC third.

Letterkenny AC landed the women’s team crown, with Farrell followed by Amanda McLoone in sixth, Alicia McNulty in eighth and Ella Gallagher in 10th.

Letterkenny AC women's novice team

In the men’s team battle, Finn Valley AC had two points to spare (25 to 27) on Rosses AC, who had David McKelvey (4), Mark Ward (6), Ryan Wilson (7) and Gavin Ward (10) scoring.

Inishowen AC’s quartet of Adam McCrudden (11), Matthew Gallagher (13), Adrian Mullally (19) and Owen McKinney (21) took the men’s team bronze medals.

Letterkenny AC won the women’s team gold by 10 points, McMenamin the front-runner for silver-medallists Finn Valley AC.

McMenamin was followed by Bronagh O’Gara in fifth while Bernie Martin (13) and Geraldine Brown (15) also scored. 

Nicole O’Donnell in fourth helped take Rosses AC to team bronze. Joining O’Donnell were Donna Boyle Gillespie (9), Sarah Doherty (11) and Angela Trimble (17).

Finn Valley AC men's novice team

The Donegal Uneven Age Cross Country Championships were held alongside the county novice championships.

There was an enthralling fight in the U19 men’s race as Caolan McFadden from Cranford AC edged out Odhrán McBrearty of Finn Valley AC for the gold,

McFadden winning the individual battle proved crucial as Cranford pipped the team gold by just one point.

McFadden was joined by Michael Moore in fourth and Diarmuid Gallagher in seventh with Mark Kearns in fifth and sixth-placed Ismael Fathoun taking silver alongside McBrearty for Finn Valley AC.

Emma Bonar of Letterkenny AC won the U19 women’s race from Anna Russell (Finn Valley AC) with Cara McGonagle (Letterkenny AC) in third.

Finn Valley AC had a double success at U17 level with Mouchine Fathoun, Mark Alexander, Caolan Gillespie and David Campbell placing first to fourth in the boys race while Holly McNulty, Andrea Reid, Aimee McElchar and Abi McGeehan doing likewise in the girls race.

Finn Valley AC’s U15 girls took gold through a 1-2-3 from Caoimhe McNeill, Saorla Gilligan and Darcie Clarke, backed up by Aoibhinn Greene in fifth, while Cranford AC taking the U15 boys crown via Oisin McBride in second, Ewan Summers in third, Ben McGee (11) and Lorcan Boyce (16).

Evan Ward from Rosses AC took U15 boys gold on the home terrain.

A dominant Letterkenny AC won the U13 girls title as Katie McDowell, Eve Nic Giolla Bhain, Niamh Woods and Aoibhe Gibson were the first four across the line.

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Tir Chonaill AC’s Oisin Gallagher won the U13 boys gold from Charlie Rogers of Cranford AC, but bronze medal winner Noah Davis led Finn Valley to the team gold and he was followed by Shay McHugh, Evan Patton and Shea Irwin in fifth, sixth and seventh.

It was a Finn Valley AC double in the U11 races, too: Caitlin Gillespie, Erin Moy and Cora Clarke were on the podium and joined by Eimear Moy (7); and Harry Houston won the U11 boys gold, leading a team of Eoin Cunningham (4), Jude Martin (6) and Blake Keenan (7).