Golden weekend for Donegal athletes at Ulster Indoor Championships

A bucket load of medals came back to Donegal over the weekend from the Ulster Indoor Age Group Championships.

Held at TUS, Athlone, the Championships are a prelude to the National Championships and offered local athletes to test themselves against the best from across the province.

Finn Valley AC's Amy Timoney returned four golds from her weekend endeavours.

Timoney won the under-17 60m, 60m hurdles and long jump titles while she helped her club to glory in the 4x200m relay.

Timoney clocked 8.03 seconds to land the 60m gold and she was 9.04 seconds over the barriers in the same distance.

In the long jump, a best leap of 5m secured the top spot and the Finn Valley quartet took relay gold in 1:49.35.

Katie Elliott of Letterkenny AC bagged four medals, including the under-16 high jump title, thanks to a new personal best leap of 1.55m.

Elliott took silver in the 60m hurdles and helped LAC to gold in the under-16 4x200m relay and bronze in the under-17 4x200m relay.

There were a trio of golds for Erin Friel of Letterkenny AC, winning the under-16 60m in 8.01 seconds and the 200m in a time of 25.92 seconds that represented a huge PB. She also took gold and bronze with the relay teams.

Finn Valley AC's Hannah Murray clocked a new PB of 56.00 seconds to win the under-19 400m title on Sunday having claimed the 200m crown the previous day, crossing the line in 25.45 seconds.

Hannah Murray with her coach Rosemary Finn

Cranford AC star Caolan McFadden picked up where he left off in 2022. McFadden won the under-17 800m in 1:57.55 and added the 1500m title, winning in 4:10.74.

McFadden won national 800m and 1500m titles in 2022 and also soared to an impressive national cross country title in Rosapenna.

Caoimhe Gallen was so close to qualifying for the European Championships last year. The Lifford-Strabane AC woman showed that she's in the mood in 2023. The under-17 shot put was won through a new personal best throw of 12.49m.

Jamie Kennedy of Tir Chonaill AC won two golds, in the under-17 triple (11.76m) and 60m hurdles (9.93 seconds), while Kayla Russell from Lifford-Strabane AC won the under-15 60m (8.34 seconds) and long jump (4.53m) golds.

Oisin Gillespie of Rosses AC also won two golds, going 1.68m to win the under-15 high jump with a 5.24m leap taking the long jump honours.

Anya Duffy and Leah O'Gara who competed in the pole vault for Letterkenny AC

There were under-19 60m gold medals for Finn Valley AC's Leah McMonagle and Elvis Okoh.

McMonagle won in 8.242 seconds, only 0.006 of a second ahead of her club mate Aoife McGee, while Okoh clocked 7.51 seconds.

McMonagle also left with a silver from the under-19 girls long jump, getting in a best jump of 4.76m, while Okoh took silver in the triple jump, getting out to 12.31m.

Letterkenny AC's Fern Duffy collected the under-17 girls 400m title in 1:02.53 and Tir Chonaill AC's Ethan Dewhirst took the corresponding boys title, crossing the line in 52.56 seconds.

Duffy was another to have had a medal-laden weekend, taking silver in the 200m, as well as bronze in the 60m and 4x200m relay.

Fern Duffy and her coach Kathryn McDevitt

Tir Chonaill's Tori Murchan got over the bar at 1.6m to win the under-19 high jump, Odhran Grimes of LAC won the under-18 long jump when leaping 4.69m, Katie Louise McMonagle from Finn Valley was the under-16 long jump gold medallist when jumping 4.85m having taken bronze in the 200m.

There were shot put titles for Finn Valley's Dean Leeper (under-17), Alanna Anderson of Tir Chonaill (under-16), Michael Logue of Rosses (under-14), Tir Chonaill's Eoghan Boyle (under-12), Lifford-Strabane AC woman Cabrini Pyne (under-14), Olympian's Ciara McDaid (under-13) and Mark Boyle-Gildea of Tir Chonaill (under-13).

Finn Valley AC's Lee McGranaghan showed that he's well versed in the family ways, winning golds in the under-13 60m hurdles (10.73 seconds) and high jump (3.75m), as well as earning a long jump silver and a gold in the under-13 relay.

In the 60m sprints, Josh Brennan (Tir Chonaill, under-13), Matthew Leslie (Tir Chonaill, under-14) won golds.

Adam Green Lee (Finn Valley, under-16), Eva Logue (Rosses, under-15), Joseph Amairi (Finn Valley, under-14), Niamh Doogan (Rosses, under-14), Paddy Haslette (Letterkenny, under-13), Caoimhe McGonagle (Rosses, under-13) and Ryan Boyle (Lifford-Strabane, under-12) won long jump golds.

Emma Bonar of Letterkenny AC, fresh from a team silver at the Irish Schools Cross Country with Loreto Letterkenny on Saturday, took the under-16 800m title in 2:17.49 and bagged a 1500m silver.

Aoibhinn McElhinney from Finn Valley won the under-14 high jump with a 1.47m pb and her club-mate Jasmine Barrett-Doherty took the under-12 600m in a notable 1:51.48. Barrett Doherty took silvers in the 60m and long jump events.

Leah O'Gara (Letterkenny, 1000m, under-15), Kathryn Davison (Letterkenny, 1000m, under-14) and Majella Boyle (Lifford-Strabane, 1500m, under-16) won walks' golds.

In 60m hurdles, there were golds for Letterkenny AC duo Thalji Al Daher (under-14) and Maeve Doherty (under-15), as well as Finn Valley under-13 pair Kayla Toner and Peter Gallagher.

There was further 4x200m relay success for: Finn Valley AC under-12 girls, under-13 boys and under-14 boys; Tir Chonaill AC's under-13 girls, under-14 boys and under-19 boys; and Letterkenny AC's under-15 girls and under-12 boys.

Across all the age groups, only two athletes took part in the pole vault - both from Letterkenny AC. The opening height was 1.5m and Anya Duffy took the gold when clearing 1.9m and Leah O'Gara left with the silver, going over at 1.8m.