The Tailteann Games were held in Tullamore on Saturday with Ireland's top young athletes representing their schools in a very prestigious Inter-provincial event. Kevin Feely representing St. Columba's College, Stranorlar was in a very high-standard shot putt competition and with a best of 14.40metres he was in joint second position on distance but went back to third on countback. However, Kevin can be well pleased with his excellent series of throws and may still be in line for possible selection on the Irish Schools International Team to compete in Glasgow on the 20th July. Indeed, the following day Kevin competed in the Ulster Championships in Antrim and threw 14.46 metres which would have almost guaranteed him selection.

Nikki Alcorn, representing Loreto Convent, Letterkenny walked in the Intermediate 3000m and finished a very creditable 7th place, considering she is still a Junior and will be eligible for this event for a further two years. Nikki battled from gun to tape with the girl who had finished 3rd in the All-Ireland Schools in early June and was delighted to win the battle by one tenth of a second on the line.

Ulster Juvenile Championships at Antrim

Our juvenile athletes U/14 to U/19 were in action in Antrim on Sunday and performed exceptionally well as did their younger counterparts two weeks ago. As well as Ulster medals at stake a first four finishing place individually qualified the athletes for the All-Ireland Championships in Tullamore on the 27th and 28th July. In total we had 27 athletes qualifying in 43 events.

In the U/14 girls Bronagh Sweeney ran a personal best time in the 1500m to secure the Gold Medal. Maeve Culhane was 2nd in the 2000m walk and team-mate Charlene Kelly was 3rd. Laura Reid had the misfortune to have the three events she was competing in on at the exact same time and was forced to run between the Javelin, Discus and 800m, remarkably qualifying in all three, winning bronze in the javelin, 4th in the discus and despite a very brave run in the 800m missed out on a medal by inches finishing 4th. Also competing in this age-group were Lindsey Stewart, Paula Gallagher 965th in the High Jump, Nicola Kennedy and Terese Patton.

Kevin Gallagher had a tremendous run in the 800m U/14 to snatch a qualifying position as he looked out of the race at the halfway stage but with a brilliant sprint finish almost got up for bronze. Kieran O'Grady had a good day qualifying in the shot, discus and hammer.

In the U/15 girls Kylie Quinn was back to good jumping form winning the gold with a 1.50 m jump with team-mate Frances Galbraith 2nd with 1.45m. Frances was also third in the long jump. Nikki Alcorn, who had competed the previous day in Tullamore, took on the 2000m walk and won the Gold medal easily. Laura Chambers won the Silver medal in both the shot and the javelin. Emma O'Neill who has been out of training for a month with shin splints had a fantastic run in the 200m to gain a qualifying spot and hopefully now that she can start training again will be much improved by the end of July. Aishling Rushe and Aine McLaughlin both ran very well in the 800m but just missed out finishing 5th and 7th respectively.

Packie Mailey looked very impressive in the 200m and the 250m Hurdles, winning silver medals in both. Brendan Culhane also won silver medals in the Shot and Discus. Paul McGrath won the silver medal in the Javelin and the Bronze in the 250m Hurdles. Darren Kennedy won the silver in the 2000m walk. Maurice Boyle, Stefan Connolly and Brian Patton contested the 800m with Maurice battling hard to gain a well-deserved qualification. Stefan was having his first race since breaking his leg in March and did really well to finish in 6th position. Brian who had earlier competed in the 1500m was 9th . Conor Fullerton and John Buchanan competed in the discus but just failed to qualify.

Grainne Nangle won the Bronze medal in the Javelin and is our only qualifier in the U/16 girls. Geraldine Kelly came very close in the long jump finishing 6th in a top class competition. Nikki Connolly qualified for the final of the 200m but unfortunately did not make the top 4.

The U/16 boys had a very good day with all our competitors qualifying for the All-Irelands. Pauric Feely and Matthew Larkin attempted the triple jump for the first time and did so very successfully. Pauric won the gold medal with 11.79metres which is excellent jumping for a newcomer to the event. Matthew also jumped very well to win the bronze medal. Both boys then competed in the long jump where Pauric was 2nd and Matthew 3rd. Pauric also ran very well in the 100m winning the silver medal with team-mate Joe McGinley qualifying in 4th place despite the blocks slipping on him at the start. Michael Reid also encountered the same problems as his sister Laura having to compete in the discus and javelin at the same time running between the two events at the opposite ends of the arena. However, Michael did very well winning the Gold medal in the discus and the bronze in the javelin. Seamus McMenamin had one of his best races ever to win the silver medal in the 250m Hurdles looking very impressive indeed. Joe McGinley finished 4th. Matthew Larkin was very unfortunate in this race to fall at the last hurdle whilst in a very good position but still managed to get up and finish 7th.

In the U/17 girls we have three gold medals via Ciara Masterson in the Shot Putt and Discus and Fiona McGinley in the High Jump.

In the U/18 boys Kevin Feely as mentioned earlier easily won the shot putt with a 14.46 metre putt. Kevin also qualified in the Hammer.

In the U/19 girls Jenna McDaid won the silver medal in the Discus and also qualified in the Hammer. Barry McGill qualified in the 5000m Walk.

Congratulations to all who competed and thanks to the coaches who looked after the athletes on the day 96 Seamus McGranaghan, Evelyn Crampsie, Christine Feely and Bernie Alcorn and to the parents who helped out 96 Ann Gallagher, Bridget Boyle, Michael Kelly and Richard Alcorn.

Patsy Takes Irish Team to League One

Patsy McGongle had a very successful weekend at the Europa Cup in Estonia.

The Irish womens team won the event and are now promoted to League One in the Europa Cup for next year. The Mens team were unlucky just missing out on promotion by 2.5 points. Finn Valley wish to congratulate Patsy and the team on their success.

Donegal Grand Prix Series

Last Saturday Mark Connolly organised the Aghyaran 5K. A number of Valley's senior and veteran athletes took part and results will be given next week. The Lifford 5k takes place next Friday 28th June.

Note from Webmaster: If I had a paper or text copy of the fixtures for the Donegal Grand Prix, I'd put it in the events page. j.c. (jg.campbell@ntlworld.com).

Training continues very Tuesday and Thursday night at 7.30pm and Sunday morning at 10.30am