Home comforts for Finn Valley AC at Ulster Novice and Uneven Age Cross Country

Sean McGinley and Amy Greene made it a Finn Valley AC double at the Ulster Novice Cross Country Championships in Stranorlar on Saturday.

McGinley and Greene, both scholarship students at DCU, took the individual honours on a day when host club Finn Valley won five team golds and Caolan McFadden of Cranford AC claimed his latest impressive victory while Tir Chonaill AC’s Cathal O’Donnell (under-19), Oisin McBride of Cranford (under-13) and Letterkenny AC’s Katie McDowell (under-11) also took gold.

McGinley won the recent Donegal senior title over 10k at Mullaghderg and the Glenswilly native surged for a fine win on Saturday. The 6km distance took the participants through some good old-fashioned cross country terrain. Even at that, McGinley appeared almost effortless as he widened the margin to take gold and lead Finn Valley AC to a second Ulster Novice team title in a row.

McGinley won from Ballydrain Harriers’ Jared Martin and St Peter’s AC’s James Monaghan, who had a titanic battle for second. Cranford AC’s Oisin Kelly was sixth with Martin Cunningham of Tir Chonaill AC eighth.

“That was nice,” McGinley told Donegal Live. “I felt fairly comfortable. I planned to sit in for the first three laps. It was controlled, probably. I started to wind up the gears and open up a bit at the end.”

McGinley was joined by Gavin McCullagh (16th), Barry Gallagher (21st) and Darren Toland (23rd) as Finn Valley bagged the team honours. That team victory came 12 months after a Valley quartet of Oisin Toye, Jon-Jo Doherty, Shea Carlin and Mitchell McLaughlin triumphed.

The victorious Finn Valley AC men

McGinley said: “It was great to get it in front of the home crowd. The course was tough, especially out on the back field. This was good preparation for the nationals. I enjoyed myself out there.”

Finn Valley pipped Tir Chonaill’s foursome of Martin Cunningham (8th), Shaun Kerrs (11th), Donal Murrin (18th) and Jack Kelly (25th) by just one point.

McGinley and Greene will aim to qualify for the European Cross Country Championships with both targeting podium places in the national under-23s.

Greene was a similarly impressive winner in the women’s race on Saturday. 

Greene pulled away from the chasing back for an excellent gold, just a couple of weeks after winning the Ulster Under-20 crown.

“I didn’t expect that,” Greene said. “It was a great run. The aim is always to come and win. It was good to back up the recent races. I just have to keep it going now.”

Greene won from Tir Chonaill AC woman Ciara Cunningham - just six days after running the Dublin Marathon - in second and Omagh’s Ella Quinn in third.

Tafelta AC won the women’s team gold, with Greene joined by Nuala Bose (15th), Martina Quinn (21st) and Joanne McNabb (23rd) for team silver.

Cranford star McFadden continues to catch the eye. McFadden was he comprehensive winner of the under-17 race and the Creeslough native will go to the nationals with his confidence high.

McFadden saw off Noah Watt from Loughview AC to take gold while Finn Valley AC’s Odhran McBrearty claimed bronze, running out of his age category.

McFadden’s Cranford AC team-mate Oisin McBride won the under-13 boys gold while Charlie Rogers, another Cranford athlete, was the under-11 silver medalist.

Cathal O’Donnell from Tir Chonaill AC was a notable winner of the under-19 gold. O’Donnell had spent some time away from the sport and this certainly represented a superb outing as he edged in front of a Lagan Valley AC trio of Tommy Arthur, Jack McCausland and Oisin McGloin to win.

Rosses AC’s Odhran Rogers was third in the under-15 boys race and Lifford-Strabane AC’s Elsa Moore was just outside the medals when crossing the line fourth in the under-19 race.

Letterkenny AC’s Katie McDowell led the way in the under-11 girls race, where Rosses AC’s Enya Logue nudged in ahead of Finn Valley’s Alison Mbuli for bronze.

McDowell led the charge for LAC to win team gold, joined on the scoring team by Eve Nic Giolla Bhain (9th), Niamh Woods (12th) and Aoibhinn Hegarty (18th), with Finn Valley’s quartet of Mbuli, Rhia Toner (13th), Aoibheann Moss (14th) and Ellen Rose Carlin (20th) in second

Individual silver medalist Darci Clarke pointed the way for Finn Valley AC to win under-13 team golds. Saorla Gilligan (7th), Ciara McCusker (15th) and Caoimhe McNeill (16th) also scored

A second Finn Valley AC team was on the under-13 podium as Caoimhe McElhinney (22nd), Erin McGinty (25th), Aoibhinn Greene (28th) and Kate McMenamin (43rd) were the team bronze medalists.

Finn Valley AC’s left with the under-15 team gold and silver. Andrea Reid (5th), Aimee McElchar (18th), Abi McGeehan (21st) and Aoibhinn McElhinney (28th) were the gold winners while they were followed by Niamh McGlinchey (16th), Nia Byrne (17th), Holly McNulty (23rd), Jessica Lafferty (37th).

Finn Valley also won gold in the under-13 boys -  Peter Gallagher (10th), Oisin Browne (13th), Pascal McMenamin (16th) and Dylan Temple (17th) and the under-11 boys - Shay McHugh (7th), Odhran Gallagher (10th), Adam Breen (11th) and Kyle Doherty (13th).

Bronze medal winner McBrearty helped Finn Valley AC to under-17 team silver, backed up strongly by Ciaran McCarroll (16th), Lorcan Byrne (17th) and Paraic McGettigan (18th).

Rosses AC’s under-13 boys - Evan Ward (4th), Eli Duffy (6th), Micheal Breathnach (24th) and Aidan Lynch (52nd) - and Letterkenny AC’s under-11 boys - James Kilfeather (14th), Caoimnhin Byrne (15th), Scott Doherty (19th) and Cian McGonagle (21st) - each left with team bronze medals.