Masters delight for Donegal athletes at National Indoors

Eight Donegal athletes were celebrating gold on Saturday at the 123.ie National Masters Indoor Championships at the TUS International arena in Athlone.

As has become the norm, Donegal competitors were well to the fore in the Masters Championships.

In all, 24 medals were won by Donegal athletes, with eight of those gold with Catriona Devine, Patrick Galvin, Damian Crawford, Shane Toolan, Kay Byrne, Martin O’Donnell,  Robert Anderson and Brian Boyce each winning two medals.

Finn Valley AC’s Devine won the W50 1500m. Devine won in 5:08.98, staving off the threats of Ann Marie Connellan from Ennis and Breda Smyth of Lucan who clocked 6:11.75 and 5:41.34 respectively.

Devine added the 800m silver to the sideboard. Geraldine Vahey from Ennis earned gold in 2:30.95 with Devine following in 2:33.74.

Devine’s Finn Valley AC colleague Galvin also won gold and silver, going over at 1.55m for M50 high jump gold with a 4.67m attempt taking silver in the long jump.

Devine’s sister McConnell claimed gold in the W55 3000m walk. McConnell’s time of 16:56.66 was faster than the W50 3000m walk winner Susanne O’Beirne, who finished in 17:27.93.

Tir Chonaill AC’s Martin Cunningham surged away from the field to take gold in the M45 1500m. The Carrick native finished in 4:19.49 for gold, beating Eagle AC’s Fergus Nugent (4:30.88) and Ger Hartnett from Tuam AC (4:32.51) to win.

Lifford AC’s Crawford was the M55 shot put gold medalist, thanks to a 11.07m throw. A bronze in the weight for distance event followed for Crawford when reaching a best of 7.06m.

Rosses AC man Aidan Gillespie touched the sand at 5.02m to win the M50 long jump and Bosco Reid of Finn Valley won the M60 shot with a 10.95m throw.

Milford native Boyce, who now competes for the An Riocht club in Kerry left Athlone with two medals. In the M45 200m, Boyce sped to gold in 24.73 seconds and in the 400m Boyce won bronze in 55.16 seconds.

Tir Chonaill AC man Toolan took two sprint silvers. Over 60m, Toolan clocked 8.72 seconds and crossed the line in 29.59 seconds in the 200m. In each, Shane Sheridan of Dundrum South Dublin left with the gold.

Byrne of Finn Valley AC won a pair of silver medals. Byrne, a World and European Masters gold medalist in 2023, took silver in both the 1500m and 3000m.

Olympian YAC’s O”Donnell left with a silver and a bronze for his day’s work. O’Donnell jumped out to 8.52m for silver in the M45 triple jump. O’Donnell also won bronze in the M45 60m sprint, clocking 7.95 seconds.

There was double joy, too, for Anderson of Tir Chonaill AC. In the M55 weight for distance, Anderson threw a best of 7.54m to win silver and in the triple jump a 7.38m effort earned a bronze.

Kevin Duffy of Rosses AC reached out to 9.34m for silver in the M35 shot.

There was a first national medal for Finn Valley AC’s Garvan Boyce. The Ramelton native went 5:24.04 for bronze in the M50 1500m.

Letterkenny AC man Barry Mackey was third in the M60 3000m while John J Cannon of Tir Chonaill AC, bagged bronze in the W65 1500m. Mackey was fourth in the 1500m and Cannon sixth in the 800m.

Finn Valley AC’s Gerard Gallagher was fourth in the M35 1500m and fifth in the 800m.

Former Finn Valley AC athlete Danea Heron, now representing City of Derry Spartans, won the W60 triple jump and was fourth in the 200m.