Erin Friel sets new Donegal record en route to Irish indoor final

Erin Friel clocked a new Donegal best to reach the 200m final at the National Senior Indoor Championships.

Letterkenny AC’s rising ace Friel finished sixth in her first senior final.

In her semi-final, Friel, who only celebrated her 17th birthday last week, won in 24.82 seconds - a new personal best and a county record.

Friel took out the previous record set by Mary McLoone of Tir Chonaill AC in 2009. McLoone’s 24.84 seconds was set 16 years ago, also at the National Indoors.

Out of lane 1 in the final, Friel was sixth in 25.24 seconds. Gold went to Moyne AC woman Kate Bergin in 24.03 with Kate O’Connell (Lucan Harriers) second in 24.41 and Molly Hourihan (UCD AC) taking bronze in 24.42.

Earlier this month, Friel broke new personal ground when stopping the clock at 24.98 seconds at the National Indoor League final at the AIT Arena in Athlone.

The Loreto Secondary School scholar won her first national gold in 2024 when picking up the U17 indoor 400m title and this represents another valuable afternoon in the black and amber singlet.

A daughter of Barry and Vanessa Friel, she is coached by Kathryn McDevitt and competed with the Irish medley relay team at the European U18s last summer.

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In the 60m hurdles, Lifford-Strabane AC’s Ashleigh McArdle was sixth in her heat in 9.16 seconds, but did not advance. McArdle also competed in the high jump, clearing a best of 1.60m with the gold medal there heading home in the pocket of Finn Valley AC ace Sommer Lecky, who got over at 1.81m.

Oisin Kelly competed in the 800m, the Cranford man finishing third in his heat and crossing the line in 1:53.66, just missing out on qualification for the final.

With the European Indoor Championships looming large, Mark English of Finn Valley AC side-stepped these Championships, as did Irish 800m rival Cian McPhillips, while Kelly McGrory did not go under starter’s orders in the 400m.