Ankle injury rules Sean McGinley out of National Novice Cross Country

Sean McGinley will has been ruled out of Sunday’s National Novice Cross Country Championship race.

The Finn Valley AC athlete, a scholarship student at DCU, injured an ankle on Tuesday night in training.

While McGinley underwent a scan late in the week and the exact extent of the damage has yet to be determined, the 20-year-old won’t be on the line at Navan Racecourse.

The Glenswilly native, who is coached by John Rogan, was a silver medal winner with the Ireland Junior men at last year’s European Cross Country Championships.

The recent winner of the Donegal Senior and Ulster Novice titles, McGinley has shown good progress in recent years and was seen as a leading gold contender for this weekend.

McGinley’s absence comes as a blow for Finn Valley AC’s team chances with Jon-Jo Doherty also set to sit out Sunday’s race.

A range of juvenile uneven age races will also take place on Sunday.

Cranford AC’s rising star Caolan McFadden will be expected to be the front-runner in the U17 race having won the recent U18 version at Gowran Park.

McFadden soared to the Ulster U17 gold and the 2022 U16 champion will fancy his chances of adding another victory.

A bumper entry of over 1500 juvenile athletes will battle it out for honours during the morning session before the ultra-competitive looking novice races take centre stage.

Cathal O’Donnell of Tir Chonaill won the U19 Ulster race while Letterkenny AC’s Katie McDowell (U11) also won the provincial version and could also be among those chasing medals.