A golden day for Dewhirst brothers at National Juveniles

Fintan Dewhirst and his brother Ethan were two of the five gold medal winners from Donegal clubs at the final day of the 123.ie National Juvenile Championships in Tullamore.

The Tir Chonaill AC siblings each won gold over hurdles on a day when Caolan McFadden, Riona Doherty and Oisin Gillespie also topped their respective charts.

Fintan Dewhirst, the European Under-18 400m hurdles silver medallist was king of the national castle on Sunday as he won the under-19 gold.

The 400m hurdles title was his in a routine 54.65 seconds and he is set for the European Junior Championships next month in Jerusalem.

Caoimhe Gallen doubles up as Donegal athletes win nine golds

There were some fine performances by Donegal athletes on day two 123.ie National Juvenile Track and Field Championships in Tullamore

Younger brother Ethan Dewhirst went 38.58 seconds over the under-17 300m hurdles to land gold and make it a day to savour for the Glenties family.

Cranford AC’s Caolan McFadden has been one to watch for a while now and he won the under-17 1500m in 4:05.11.

Caolan McFadden of Cranford AC after taking gold.

Riona Doherty was out of the medal spots when she lined up for her final go at the under-17 long jump. The Finn Valley AC woman had a lengthy spell out with injury, but her return to form was completed with her last leap.

Doherty jumped out to a gold-winning distance of 5.42m to get beyond Dundalk’s Meabh O’Connor, who went to a best of 5.37m.

Oisin Gillespie of Rosses AC landed gold in the under-15 high jump, clearing the bar at 1.60m.

If the margins for Doherty’s gold were thin, then they were almost non-existent as her Finn Valley AC colleague Hannah Murray was inched out of a second gold of the weekend.

Murray was the 400m gold medallist on Saturday and returned to the 200m final on Sunday. There, Murray finished in 25.69 seconds, the same time as Aobh Forde of Dundrum South Dublin. A photo finish handed Forde the gold, barely the width of a cigarette paper between them in the end.

Hannah Murray was edged out for gold in the 200m.

Olympian YAC’s Sophie Parlour was the bronze medallist in the same race, clocking 25.94 seconds.

Finn Valley AC’s Eimear McCarroll took silver in the under-19 1500m, finishing in 4:49.64 and only beaten by Kirsti Charlotte Foster from Willowfield Harriers.

Lifford-Strabane AC’s Luke Ward won silver in the under-18 hammer when throwing to 38.87m and there was a solver too for Finn Valley AC’s Dean Leeper, a 49.88m throw taking second in the under-17 javelin.

A double gold medallist on Saturday, Lifford-Strabane AC star Caoimhe Gallen was back on the podium on Sunday, a 32.02m throw enough for bronze in the under-17 discus.

Alannah Anderson threw 31.41m for silver in the under-16 discus having taken shot put silver and high jump bronze the previous afternoon, while Stephen Slevin of Finn Valley AC cleared the bar at 1.70m for a bronze in the under-16 high jump.

There were narrow misses with Harry McIlwaine (Letterkenny AC) fourth in the under-15 200m, Katie Louise McMonagle (Finn Valley) fourth in the under-16 200m, Emily Kelly (TIr Chonaill AC) fifth in the under-16 250m hurdles, Philip McGee (Letterkenny AC) fourth in the under-17 1500m having been the 3000m silver winner on Saturday, and Daniel McHugh (Finn Valley) was fifth in the under-19 200m and sixth in the long jump.