Erin Friel hits EYOF 200m standard with a golden ticket in Athlone

On a day when four Donegal athletes won gold at the National Juvenile Indoor Championships in Athlone, Erin Friel pulled another rabbit out of her hat.

Her March began by sealing the 400m standard for the 2025 European Youth Summer Olympic Festival (EYOF). It isn’t over yet, but in winning gold in the U18 200m on Saturday at the TUS Arena in Athlone, the Letterkenny AC woman clocked a new Donegal record.

Finn Valley AC’s Amy Timoney, Caolan McFadden of Cranfod AC and Ethan Dewhirst from Tir Chonaill AC all grabbed gold on day one of these Championships.

In the case of Friel, there was real significance. Friel won gold around one lap of the midlands area, finishing in 24.24 seconds. The EYOF standard is 24.30. Friel won from Angela Cielecka (West Coast) who was second in 24.87 and Maeve Purtill of Dooneen AC who took bronze in 25.50.

Friel will be on the plane to Skopje in the summer and now has the standard in two events having set a national U18 indoor record of 54.75 seconds to win the Junior 400m title on March 9.

Her time on Saturday also pulls back the Donegal indoor 200m record from Arlene Crossan, who went 24.44 in early March.

Timoney set a new PB to take the U19 60m hurdles gold. The Finn Valley AC athlete won in 8.72 seconds, the Shauna Carlin-coached woman staving off Donore Harriers’ Abigail Farrell (8.75) and Ferrybank’s Petra Igwe (8.97) to win impressively.

Friel, Mcfadden and Dewhirst all competed last year at the European U18s in Slovakia.

McFadden, no stranger to the podium’s top step, landed the U19 800m gold. The Creeslough lad took victory in 1:53.98, winning from Mullingar Harriers athlete Conor Liston (1:54.99) and John Delaney from St Abban’s (1:55.18). McFadden was presented with his gold medal by his coach Eamon Giles.

Dewhirst sealed the U19 200m title in 22 seconds. Ronan Ryan from Nenagh Olympic was on his tail in 22.05 seconds while Shane McDonald (Kilcoole) took third in 22.42, but Dewhirst was first over the line.

Tir Chonaill AC’s Jamie Kennedy won two medals. Kennedy was the silver medallist in the U19 triple jump, leaping out to 13.11m and a best effort of 6.03m earned long jump bronze.

Anya Duffy of Letterkenny AC was the U17 pole vault silver medal winner, soaring over at 2.40m with Leevale’s Helena Golka clearing 2.95m for gold.

There was silver, too, for Joseph Ike of Lifford-Strabane AC, who threw to 13.12m in the U16 shot in an event that saw Jacoby McHugh from Tir Chonaill AC finish fourth (11.10m).

In the U14 high jump, Aaliyah Gallagher from Rosses AC took silver when getting over the bar at 1.51m.

Finn Valley AC’s Zach McKinley earned silver in the U12 600m. McKinley finished in 1:42.44, beaten only by City of Derry’s Lukas Janosik (1:40.76) while Shay McHugh of Finn Valley AC (1:46.24) was fifth in the same event.

Letterkenny AC:s Emma Bonar finished in 2:15.41 for bronze in the U18 800m while there was also bronze for LAC’s Harry McIlwaine, who clocked 22.48 in the U17 200m, finishing behind Christopher Olatunde from Ratoath (22.32) and Luis Blinco, representing Metro/St Brigid’s AC (22.42).

Clodagh Gallagher of Letterkenny AC left with bronze in the U16 high jump after clearing 1.53m while her club colleague Kathryn Davison was fifth, going over at 1.45m.

Cranford AC’s Oisin McBride ran 2:08.35 for third in the U15 800m.

Read next: Caoimhin Connolly takes victory on international debut

There was a fourth-place finish for Lifford-Strabane AC’s Cabrini Pyne