Donegal athletes clear the hurdles to national glory

Donegal athletes performed well over the barriers at 123.ie National Junior and Under-23 Championships in Tullamore on Sunday.

European Under-18 silver medallist Fintan Dewhirst scooped gold in the Under-20 400m hurdles. The Tir Chonaill AC star clocked 54.39 seconds to sweep his way to his latest golden nugget. Ratoath AC’s Ben Hughes was second 57.96 with Dewhirst having a good margin as he crossed the line.

The Under-23 400m hurdles gold is also back in Donegal with Letterkenny AC’s Ryan Canning superbly winning. Canning won in 56.06 seconds, with Tir Chonaill AC’s Eoin Sharkey second in 60.44 seconds.

Finn Valley AC athlete Amy Greene was victorious in the Junior women’s steeplechase. The Rosses native, now in the blue and white Finn Valley singlet, won in 11:12.85, well in front of Avril Cashman from Youghal, who finished in 11:21.26.

Mark English wins in Watford

Finn Valley AC athlete Mark English was back to winning ways when taking victory at a British Milers Meet in Watford on Saturday evening

Siobhan Doherty of Tir Chonaill AC won the Under-23 women’s 3000m walk. Doherty finished in 16:08.22 and it was a comfortable victory.

Tir Chonaill AC’s Alex Anderson took gold in the Under-20 weight for distance, throwing out to a best of 7.89m. Anderson also finished fourth in the hammer, fifth in the discus and sixth in the shot while Lifford-Strabane AC’s Luke Ward was sixth in the discus competition.

Lifford-Strabane AC throwers Adrienne Gallen and Ellie McCurdy were also atop the podium. Gallen threw out to 53.59m for gold in the Under-20 women’s hammer. Gallen also left Tullamore with a bronze in the shot put, throwing a best of 10.05m while a 30.29m throw was enough to finish fourth in the discus.

Amy Greene on her way to winning the steeplechase gold. Photo: Sportsfile

The ever-improving McCurdy was celebrating again as she came out on top in the Under-20 women’s hammer, her best effort landing at 37.16m.

Tir Chonaill AC ace Lucy McGlynn, who competed at the World Under-20s in Colombia last year, earned two silvers.  McGlynn was second over the 100m hurdles, going 14.97 seconds. The gold was claimed by St Laurence O’Toole athlete Arabella Adekoya in 14.69 seconds.

A 1:04.16 finish over the 400m hurdles saw McGlynn also take silver, with Ratoath AC woman Eve Mooney bagging gold thanks to a 1:03.49 run.

Sean McGinley of Finn Valley AC, a silver medalist at the 2022 European Cross Country Championships with Ireland Under-20s, took silver in the under-23 men’s steeplechase. McGinley ended in 9:21.30 with the race won by Ennis’s Oisin Spillane, who clocked 9:08.56.

Finn Valley AC jumpers Oisin Thompson and Joseph Gillespie were silver medallists. In the Under-20 long jump, Thompson jumped out to 6.54m to finish second to Michael Kent from DMP AC (6.69m) while a 13.81m leap secured Gillespie a silver behind Michael Alajiki of Dundealgan (14.29m).

Tir Chonaill AC’s Jack Murphy went over the bar at 3.55m to win silver in the Under-23 men’s pole vault.

Killybegs woman Michaela Byrne, a Finn Valley AC athlete, was the bronze medallist in the Under-23 women’s triple jump, leaping to 9.40m.

There was a fourth-place finish for Hannah Murray of Finn Valley in the Under-20 400m and for Sheldon Romeo Nyoni of Letterkenny AC in the Under-23 200m.

Olympian YAC’s Sophie Parlour finished fifth in the Under-20 100m, while Aoife Giles was sixth in the Under-20 women’s discus, shot and weight for distance throws.

Ava Anderson from Tir Chonaill AC was seventh in the shot and fourth in the weight for distance at Under-20 level.