Gold on the dozen for Donegal athletes at National Masters Championships

A dozen gold medals were won by athletes from Donegal clubs at the National Masters Track and Field Championships on Saturday in Tullamore.

Rosses AC pair Aidan Gillespie and Nicole O’Donnell both won on the double, as did Lifford-Strabane AC’s Damian Crawford and Martin Mooney of Inishowen AC.

Gillespie won the M50 long jump when going out to 5.45m. Gillespie’s winning jump came on his first visit to the board and saw him overcome Pascal Halley from Waterford, who had a best attempt of 5.15m.

Gillespie also won the high jump thanks to a 1.60m clearance with Loch Lurgan’s Alan Goblin getting over at 1.45m for silver.

O’Donnell won both the W40 100m and 200m golds. The Rosses AC woman took the 100m title in 13.15 second and landed the 200m crown when clocking 27.28 seconds. Olympian YAC’s Karen O’Donnell was the bronze medalist in each race and she took silver over the 400m.

Double delight as Mona McSharry lands second European gold

Mona McSharry added the 100m breaststroke gold to the 50m breaststroke title at the European Under-23 Swimming Championships, which are being held in Dublin

Crawford fired out to 32.02m for gold in the M50 hammer and a 41.81m effort took gold in the javelin. Crawford left with a third medal as he also secured bronze in the discus.

Mooney hit the jackpot in the M40 javelin when throwing a best of 33.20 and a jump of 8.44m earned the triple jump gold. Mooney was also the silver medalist in the 110m hurdles, finishing in 21.22 seconds.

Finn Valley AC’s Bosco Reid won gold in the M60 shot, thanks to a throw of 10.97m. Reid also took silver in the hammer when reaching out to 36m.

Catriona Devine, one of the stalwarts of Finn Valley AC’s dominant women’s cross-country teams from the 1990s, took the W45 1500m gold. The Castlefin woman finished in 5:03.86, beating off Raheny’s Zoe Quinn, who crossed the line in 5:04.75.

Tir Chonaill AC’s Geraldine Stewart was the W40 shot put gold medal winner. Stewart’s 11.35m effort saw her take the win, while the M35 javelin gold was won by Rosses AC’s Kevin Duffy, who won thanks to a 27.06m attempt before taking silver in the shot.

Shane Toolan of Tir Chonaill took silver in both the M65 100m and 200m while Martin Cunningham of Tir Chonaill was the M45 silver medalist and Martin O’Donnell left with silver in the M45 triple jump and Liam Bradley of Inishowen AC was the third M50 home in the 1500m.

Danea Herron, now with City of Derry Spartans, was the 1984 and 1984 Irish heptathlon champion when representing Finn Valley. Herron was the W60 gold medalist in the triple jump (6.67m) and javelin (16.87m).