Finn Valley Juveniles Win Top Ulster Cross-country Club Title

Congratulation to our juveniles who once again retained their title as top juvenile cross-country club after two rounds of the Ulster Championships. Finn Valley won the title with 32 points to spare. The even-age group Championships were held in Ballyclare, Co. Antrim on Saturday on an excellent course for juvenile cross-country running. Qualification for the All-Ireland Cross-Country Championships was at stake here also with the top three club teams, top 12 individuals and top 10 County athletes to qualify for Mullingar in December.

Finn Valley athletes were to the fore from the very first race with Rebecca Ward winning her first individual Ulster Championship title in a very exciting race battling quite literally to the line with Jessica Roberts from Cranford A.C. Finn Valley also won the team title here with terrific running from Blaithnead Patton 12th, Caoimhe McMenamin 13th, Cheyanne Griffin 14th, Megan Stewart 15th, Shannon McLaughlin 17th and Melanie Penrose 32nd.

The U/10 boys were next on duty and were determined to get on the medal rostrum as well as indeed they did. Led by Oisin Merritt who finished in an excellent Bronze medal position in a very tight finish -- the first three athletes all within 3 seconds of each other. Finn Valley won the Silver Team medals here with great running from Paul Smith 7th, Peter Brown 12th, Niall Bonner 36th and Carl Hughes 41st.

We had no team in the U12 girls but Aoife Gallagher 21st was on the scoring Donegal team who won Gold in the Inter-County Championships. Good running also from Madeline Penrose 31st and Stephanie Connolly 74th.

Ryan McNulty 6th and Mark Bonner 7th ran very well in the U12 boys race to lead their team of Colm McLaughlin 24th and Justin Browne 33rd home to Bronze medals. Great support here also from Dean Bonner.

We had very strong performances from Fionnuala Lindsay 7th, Aoife Whelan 13th, Karen Ferguson 15th, Eilish Patton 16th, Jodie Stewart 20th, Gemma Vance 21st Niamh Doherty 26th, Clara Dunnion 42nd and Emily Murphy in the U14 girls race to win the Team Gold, this was an excellent performance by these girls.

Lorcan McMenamin, better known for his jumping talents, showed his fitness with an excellent run in the U14 boys in 13th position leading his team home to the Gold medals also. Pauric McLaughlin just one second behind Lorcan is coming back to form after injury, Dermot Brennan 19th, Philip Brown 28th and Patrick Geary 34th. It is interesting to note the Philip Brown was the 3rd member of his family to win an Ulster medal on Saturday in addition to Philip's Gold, Peter won Gold on the U10 team and Justin won Bronze on the U12 team.

Breda McGinty followed up her excellent victory in Killybegs were she won the U15 Ulster Title by winning the U16 Title in Ballyclare beating the very talented Anna Rainey from Lagan Valley into 2nd position. Breda led her team to Bronze medals with excellent running from Laura Reid 21st, Maeve Culhane 22nd, Jackie Gibson 29th, Fionuala Bruton 33rd and Tara Hegarty 38th.

Our U16 boys team was made up totally of our U15 boys team who won the title in Killybegs the previous week. Despite all being out of their age groups they put in an excellent performance led by Ian Ward in 6th, Ryan McDaid 18th, Darren McGlinchey 19th, Shane Bonnar 21st and Aiden Connoly 33rd to win the Bronze team medals just two points off the Silver medals.

We only had one athlete in the U18 girls, Nikki Alcorn, running a year out of her age group. Nikki put in an excellent performance finishing 18th and was a scoring member of the Donegal Team which won the Gold medals in the Inter-County Championships.

Our U18 boys were unfortunate not to qualify finishing in 4th team position but they were all also out of their age group with Enda Doherty continuing his excellent form this season being Finn Valley's lead runner in 18th, Maurice Boyle 19th, Alan Cavanagh 26th and Stefan Connolly 36th.

Finn Valley Senior Momen Retain County Title

Congratulations also to our Senior athletes who were competing on Sunday in the County Cross-Country Championships which were held at the Finn Valley Centre.

Catriona McGranaghan looked very impressive winning the individual title easily from Bridie Trearty, Cranford A.C. with Finn Valley's Clodagh McCool in 3rd position. Very strong running from Kay Byrne in 5th and Teresa McGloin 6th saw Finn Valley retain their title with 15 points ahead of Letterkenny A.C. on 28 points.

Finn Valley were unable to field a Senior men's team due to injuries and illness but fair play to our Masters Men's team who stepped into the breach and put in a terrific performance to win the Silver medals. Nice also to see Martin Bonner starting his comeback.

Our team was led by the in-form Dominic Bonner, who has been selected on the Irish Masters team for the British & Irish Masters International in Croydon in two weeks time, in 6th place, Pat Hegarty 7th, Mark Connolly 12th, Gerard Bogle 15th, Martin Bonner 20th and Drew Doherty 22nd.

Sympathy

Sincere sympathy is extended to Lisa and Peter McDaid on the tragic death from meningitis of their two-year old son Oran. Lisa was a former Finn Valley athlete.

Bernie Alcorn, P.R.O.