Relay glory for Loreto in a Championships for family albums

Loreto Secondary School, Letterkenny's successful intermediate girls 4x100m relay team

placeholder image — Loreto Secondary School, Letterkenny's successful intermediate girls 4x100m relay team

The Dewhirst brothers and the Gallen sisters won golds at the All-Ireland Schools Championships, where the 4x100m relay quartet from Loreto, Letterkenny delivered an excellent performance to deliver gold

On a day when the Dewhirst brothers and the Gallen sisters landed golds, the Loreto, Letterkenny relay quartet shone at the 123.ie All Ireland Schools’ Track and Field Championships in Tullamore.

The intermediate girls' 4x100m quartet of Katie Elliott, Emma Bonar, Fern Duffy and Erin Friel delivered a performance that will live long in the memory.

The Loreto ladies, all Letterkenny AC runners, finished in 50.40 seconds for a win that ranks among the top displays by a relay team from Donegal.

Elliott, not long off the high jump mat, set the ball rolling with a solid first leg and Bonar tore up the back straight. A superb baton change from Bonar to Duffy gave Loreto's third runner a chance to hare around the bend.

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Still, they were second when Duffy passed to Friel, but she eroded the margins down the home straight and crossed the line ahead of Foyle College and Tullow CS to seal gold.

Tir Chonaill AC brothers Fintan and Ethan Dewhirst, both in the vests of St Columba's Comprehensive, Glenties, won a 400m hurdles double.

Fintan, the European Under-18 silver medallist last year, won the senior boys 400m hurdles in 55.19 seconds and was fourth in the 110m hurdles.

Ethan took the spoils in the intermediate boys 400m hurdles when clocking 56.09 seconds. Ethan was also the silver medallist over the 100m hurdles, finishing in 14.29 seconds.

Adrienne Gallen won the senior girls hammer throw, the Lifford-Strabane AC athlete, a student at St Columba's College in Stranorlar, landing a best throw of 52.93m. She followed up with a bronze in the shot, recording a best there of 10.43m.

Her younger sister, Caoimhe Gallen, who has designs on European qualification this year, won the intermediate girls hammer, throwing out to 51.89m and also finished fourth in the shot (12.30m).

Fintan Dewhirst and Ethan Dewhirst.

There was a superb effort by Odhran McBrearty of St Columba's College, Stranorlar to win the junior boys 1500m. McBrearty, a Finn Valley AC athlete, won in 4:16.32 to see off Gearoid Tuohy of Summerhill College in Sligo, who finished in 4:17.13.

Aoife McGeehin threw the javelin to 36.69m to get gold for the Loreto scholar and Olympian YAC athlete in the junior girls event.

Royal and Prior student Harry McIlwaine won the minor boys long jump as the LAC man touched the sand at 5.57m.

Olympian YAC's Sophie Parlour, representing Thornhill College from Derry, won the senior girls 100m in 12.43 seconds.

Cranford AC ace Caolan McFadden donned the Loreto, Milford vest to take silver in the intermediate boys 800m, finishing in 1:56.17.

The senior girls javelin silver went the way of Lifford-Strabane AC athlete and Holy Cross, Strabane student Ellie McCurdy, firing to 38.69m.

Caoimhe Gallen and Adrienne Gallen

Abbey VS's Alannah Anderson (Tir Chonaill AC) landed silver in the junior girls discus with a best throw of 32.92m and Deele College's Muireann McBride (Deele College and Lifford-Strabane AC) bagged bronze in the intermediate girls hammer, throwing to 50.08m.

Finn Valley AC's Hannah Murray, in the colours of St Columba's College, Stranorlar, won silver in the senior girls 200m, clocking 25.15 seconds, and bronze in the 400m, crossing the line in 56.88 seconds.

Emma Bonar of Loreto, Letterkenny was the intermediate girls 800m bronze medallist in 2:14:18 while Rosses CS's Amy Timoney took bronze in the intermediate 80m hurdles in 11.68 seconds.

In the senior boys hammer throw, Cormac O'Donnell, a St Columba's, Stranorlar and Lifford-Strabane AC athlete, won bronze, reaching out to 52.54m. In the same event, Tir Chonaill AC duo Alex Anderson (Abbey VS) and Luke Ward (St Columba's Comprehensive, Glenties) were sixth and eighth.

Rosses Community School scholar Oisin Gillespie, who trains with Rosses AC, won bronze when going over at 1.70m.

Just back from injury, Riona Doherty of Finn Valley AC and St Columba's, Stranorlar, jumped out to 5.40m for bronze in the intermediate girls long jump, while Ashleigh McArdle's best effort of 12.70m secured intermediate shot put bronze for the Lifford-Strabane AC and Holy Cross woman.

There were narrow misses on medals for: Dean Leeper (St Columba's Stranorlar/Finn Valley) in the intermediate boys javelin; Elsa Moore (Royal and Prior/Lifford-Strabane) in the intermediate girls 3,000m; Alannah Anderson (Abbey VS/Tir Chonaill) in the juior girls shot put; Kacper Adamski (Colaiste na Carraige/Tir Chonaill) in the senior boys discus; Anya Duffy (Letterkenny/Loreto) in the junior girls pole vault; Aoife McGeehin (Loreto, Letterkenny/Olympian) in the junior girls discus; and Oisin Thompson (St Columba's, Stranorlar/Finn Valley) in the senior boys long jump.