Finn Valley Win Senior Women's Cross-country Championships

The big sporting story in athletics last weekend was the fantastic victory of the Finn Valley Women's Team lifting the National Inter-club Cross-Country Title in Roscommon. This was a brilliant achievement by our team who responded against the odds to hold off a strong challenge from D.S.D. In the end, six points separated the two teams.

Noeleen Porter, who was 3rd recently in the National Masters Championships was our lead runner in 11th place, Clodagh McCool close behind in 12th place, with Kay Byrne having another great run in 13th place and Catriona McGranaghan who had been sick all week in 23rd place to secure team victory. This was Finn Valley's 10th Team victory in these Championships over the past 12 years. Kay Byrne has been a member of all these teams; what an achievement to keep so focused year after year at this high standard. Clodagh McCool who had taken a year out last year to travel around the world was a vital new element to the team. Noeleen Porter has made a great comeback after recent injury and her loyalty to the team is unquestionable. Catriona McGranaghan, who has scored on this team on eight occasions, was unfortunate not to be able to run near her best due to illness but what dedication to turn out for her team and be the vital 4th scorer. Noreen McConigley completed the team in 46th position. This team is the most successful team in any sport to come out of Donegal. The team have now qualified to represent Ireland in the European Champions Cup in Portugal next year; congratulations to all of them and also to their dedicated coach Neil Martin who deserves great credit for his excellent work with this team.

Senior Men

Our Senior men’s team were decimated by injuries to Barry Harron, Kevin Holian and Colm McBride but nevertheless we fielded a team and they performed very well to finish in 6th place. Kieran Carlin had a very good run in 26th place, Dominic Bonner, our top masters athlete 36th, Charlie Gallagher continues his comeback from injury in 43rd and yet another masters athlete Mark Connolly made up the team in 72nd position. Dominic and Mark were both scorers on our team which won the National Masters Championships recently.

Ulster Juvenile Championships, Templemore Sport Complex

Following on from our U/14-U/19 juveniles' outstanding success at the Odyssey Arena last week our U/12 and U/13 juvenile athletes took centre stage at the Templemore Sports Complex in Derry last weekend.

Jodie Stewart, who won the silver medal in the National Combined events U/14 in Nenagh last month struck Gold on the double winning both the U/13 Long Jump and High Jump, Jodie also qualified for the final of the 60m. Aaron McMenamin, younger brother of Lorcan who won double silver at the Odyssey last week in the long and high jumps, also showed his great jumping talent winning the High Jump U/13 and silver in the Long Jump.

Ciaran Brennan was very impressive winning silver in the U/12 60m sprint. Niamh Doherty put in a great finish to clinch the silver medal in the U/13 600m while Ryan McNulty also finished very strongly to win bronze in the U/12 600m. Gerry Boyle was unlucky not to qualify finishing 4th in the U/13 600m.

In addition to the U/12 and U/13 Championships those events for the older juveniles which were not held at the Odyssey were held in Derry.

Diarmuid Fullerton, last year's Bronze medallist at the National Championships, put in a great performance to win the U/16 High Jump. Fionnuala Bruton had a p.b. of 5.05 mins. in the 1000m Walk easily winning the Gold medal with Maeve Culhane just missing out on qualification in 4th place and Charlene Kelly 5th. Nikki Alcorn was our 5th Gold medallist of the day and had a very impressive victory in the U/17 1500m Walk.

Ulster relay Championships

The Ulster Relay Championships were also held in Derry and with the usual excitement attached to the relays Finn Valley athletes did extremely well winning four Gold, three Silver and three Bronze.

The U/12 boys won the 4 x 100m title with the excellent performances of Emmet Patterson, Ryan McNulty, Ciaran Brennan and Colm McLaughlin.

The U/13 boys battled to the line and finished an excellent 2nd with fine runs from Aaron McMenamin, Gerry Boyle, Christopher McBride and Ryan McNulty.

The U/14 boys A team of Gavin Carlin, Christopher O'Leary, Pauric McLaughlin and Lorcan McMenamin had an outstanding victory in the 4 x 200m, quite literally in a class of their own, retaining their title from last year. Our B team in this age group of Philip Browne, Michael Penrose, Karl Bradley and Christopher McBride also ran very well winning the Bronze medals.

The U/15 boys team of Paul Doherty, Shane Bonner, Ian Ward and Ryan McDaid, the current National Champions, had a very below par run for them finishing 3rd, but hopefully will improve by April when they will be defending their title.

The U/17 boys team of Mark McGowan, Stefan Connolly, Ross Wherity and Maurice Boyle made no mistakes with a very clear victory.

The U/14 Girls team of Christine O'Neill, Aoife Whelan, Gemma Vance and Donna McBride were involved in one of the most exciting battles of the day with a very good Letterkenny team, both teams racing neck and neck down the finishing straight with Letterkenny pipping our girls at the post.

The U/16 Girls Team of Maeve Culhane, Fionnuala Bruton, Charlene Kelly and Shauna Guthrie ran very well to win the Silver medals.

The U/17 Girls team of Emma O'Neill, Fionnuala Bruton, Maeve Culhane and Nikki Alcorn also ran very well to win the bronze medals.

The U/18 Girls team of Emma O'Neill, Geraldine Kelly, Nikki Connolly and Catriona Penrose ran very well to win Gold in their event.

There ended another successful day for our juveniles the final tally Ten Gold, Six Silver and Four Bronze medals. Congratulations to all the athletes who competed and to their coaches and parents who helped on the day.

The first three athletes in each individual event at Ulster level have now qualified for the All-Ireland Championships which will be held over two weekends in Nenagh -- 20th/21st March and 3rd/4th April. We have a total of 36 individual athletes qualifying in 49 different events plus eight relay teams so busy times ahead! All athletes who have qualified for the National Championships are expected to be at training every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday from now on.

Next weekend 48 juvenile athletes will be travelling to the Scottish Juvenile Indoor Championships at the Kelvin Hall, Glasgow bus leaving the Finn Valley Centre on Friday morning at 8.30 a.m. via Letterkenny (9.00 a.m.) Wishing everyone the best of luck.

Isle of Man

Ann McGill and Jeff Cassin will be competing this weekend in an International Walks meeting in the Isle of Man; we wish them luck.

Kevin Mossey

Congratulations to young Finn Valley athlete Kevin Mosssey who was awarded the Tyrone Herald Tyrone young sports person of the year award. The senior award went to Tyrone GAA star, Brian Dooher.

Bernie Alcorn, P.R.O.