Finn Valley athletes compete well in Tullamore

In a week with a plethora of medals across a variety of events, pride of place went to a Finn Valley AC athlete competing on the continent.
Lauren Callaghan nailed a new Ulster long jump record in Cyprus with a super jump that also goes in as new Finn Valley AC and Donegal records.
Competing at the Cyprus International Athletics Meeting, FVAC’s Lauren jumped out to 6.50m – a really significant new mark.
At the Tsirio Stadium in Limassol, the Crossroads woman placed third – beaten only by Iryna Budzynska (6.82m) and Esraa Owis (6.56m).
That jump is now the third best ever by an Irish woman, adding 6cm to her previous best and she is now closing in on the qualification standard for major championships.
Finn Valley AC athlete Mark English was back in Diamond League action on Sunday in Morocco.
At the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat, Mark clocked 1:45.00 to place 11th in a loaded 800m field.
Max Burgin from Great Britain won in 1:42.98 with Olympic champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi second in 1:43.56 and Silmane Moula third in 1:43.73.  A couple of weeks ago, Mark won in Shanghai, the 1:43.85 clocked a meeting record and the second fastest time of his career.
Finn Valley AC hosted an action-packed Ulster U12 & U13 Championships and Children’s Games on Sunday.
The Patsy McGonagle Track was a hive of activity as the young stars of the future battled for Ulster places – and also qualification for the Nationals.
It was a day laden by medals for Finn Valley AC from start to finish.
Ceola McGlinchey added to her fast-swelling collection with FOUR gold medals.
In the U13 high jump, Ceola set a new PB, soaring over at 1.48m, adding a cm to her record. Ceola gave the Irish age group record (1.51m) a go, but it proved just too much in testing conditions. Ceola won the U13 60m hurdles in 10.32 seconds, leaped to 4.40m for long jump gold and also won a relay gold.
Zach McKinley was the U13 600m silver medal winner, crossing the line in 1:41.50 and beaten only by the excellent Lukas Janosik, who took gold in 1:37.07 while FVAC’s Shay McHugh was fourth in the 600m.
There was a 1-2-3 for Finn Valley AC in the U13 1000m walk with Hannah May Browne winning in a fine 5:22.69, ahead of club-mates Trudy Gallagher and Amelia McGahern.
Miller McCrossan powered to gold in the U13 80m in 10,94 seconds and Eve Maguire won the U13 80m in 11.74 seconds while Fia McNulty took bronze in 11.88 seconds.
Dualta McNabb left with silver from the U13 60m hurdles, finishing in 13.72 seconds, and he took bronze in the high jump with a 1.20m jump. Dualta was just outside the medals, fourth, in the long jump.
Eve Maguire jumped to 4.15m for U13 long jump silver and Sophia Henderson took silver in the U13 javelin thanks to a 20.21m throw.
Sorcha Cunningham took silver in the U13 600m, finishing in 1:52.89 and just edged for gold while Ellen Rose Carlin placed fourth in the same race.
Erin Moy bagged silver in the U12 60m, finishing in 9.09 seconds and she was fifth over 600m in 1:53.45. Erin also won gold in the long jump, going to 4.22m while Eimear Moy earned long jump bronze with a 3.92m leap and Annie O’Mahony came fourth (3.79m).
Byron Boyle of Finn Valley AC won the U12 600m in 1:48.26 and his club-mate Harry Houston was second in 1:48.43. Byron Boyle was also second in the long jump, getting to 4.13m, while Eoghan Moss landed bronze in the U12 turbo javelin, arrowing to 20.49m.
Eoin Cunningham sped to the U11 60m gold in 9.18 seconds and leaped out to 4.16m for gold in the long jump.
Jude Martin earned gold in the U11 600m, crossing the line in 1:54.13 for victory and there was a 1-2-3 in the U11 long jump, won by Aoibhinn McFadden (3.65m) from Ailbhe Coyle (3.51m) and Enya Gallagher (3.43m).
Lara Coulter threw to 14.93m for gold in the U11 turbo javelin, Ailbhe Coyle earned bronze in the U11 600m and Blake Keenan wasn’t far off the medals in the U11 turbo javelin, placing fifth with a 17.96m throw.
Rhea Moy took gold in the U10 500m, winning in 1:38.77, with Malea Griffin third in the same race in 1:43.30. Rhea Moy also won the long jump, getting out to 3.56m with Aine Moy third (3.33m) and Malea Griffin just outside the medals at 3.24m.
George Gallagher won the U10 long jump with a 3.30m j8mp while Riagan Venzon was second when going to 3.28m. Finn O”Mahony, Darragh Feely and Matthew Breen were just outside the medals in fourth, fifth and sixth.
Caragh McGinty was second in the U9 60m and also second in the long jump. Senan Healy won the U9 long jump, going to 3.09m and winning from FVAC club-mates Louie Martin (2.89m) and Eoghan McFadden (2.86m). Senan Healy was third in the U9 60m; Donagh Cunningham placed third in the U9 300m
Thomas Coulter took silver in the U9 turbo javelin.
Finn Valley AC u13s won the girls relay gold – Katie Thompson, Fiadh Venzon, Fia McNulty, Eve Maguire and Ceola McGlinchey – and the U13 boys of Dualta McNabb, Ruairi Moss, Darragh McGlinchey, Zach McKinley and Miller McCrossan did likewise.
The FVAC U12 girls relay team – Annie O’Mahony, Caitlin Gillespie, Eimear Moy, Lacey McCaughan and Erin Moy – took silvers, as did the FVAC U12 boys relay team of James McGahern, Luke Scanlan, Harry Houston, Jack McCrory and Bryon Boyle.
Finn Valley AC won the U11 boys relay – Eunan McGinty, Daithin Bonner, Peter Ward, Jude Martin and Eoin Cunningham on that team.
There was silver for the FVAC U11 girls in the relay with Enya Gallagher, Aoibhinn McFadden, Caitlin Crumley, Ailbhe Coyle and Cora Clarke on the team.
FVAC won the U10 relays with Aine Moy, Elise Lafferty, Malea Griffin, Ella Gallagher and Rhea Moy taking girls golds and Riagan Venzon, Daire McGlinchey, Darragh Feely, Finn O’Mahony and George Gallagher earning the boys golds.
FVAC won the U9 relay in 1:05.10 – Eoghan McFadden, Adam O’Mahony, Loui Martin, Donagh Cunningham and Senan Healy while Sophia Burke, Eabha Martin, Caragh McGinty, Amber Stewart, Jessica Blaney and Danielle Moss, the FVAC U9 relay team, took silver.
There was medal joy for Finn Valley AC athletes at the All-Ireland Schools Track and Field Championships in Tullamore.
Katie Louise McMonagle won silver in the senior long jump, going out to 5.51m for silver, The Gairmscoil Chú Uladh student was beaten only by Meabh Purtill, the Limerick girl touching the sand at 5.62m on her first go.
There was also silver for Leah O’Gara. Loreto, Letterkenny student Leah – who has already hit a Q mark for the European U18 Championships – took silver in the 2k walk, finishing in 9:17.13 with gold going to Castlebar’s Pearl Sands, who won in 9:16.83.
Odhrán McBrearty won bronze in the senior 5000m. The St Columba’s College, Stranorlar student clocked 14:50.81 with gold going to Lucas Lyons (14:21.68) and silver going to Diarmuid Maloney (14:26.65).
Stephen Slevin came fourth in the senior high jump, the Deele College student clearing a best of 1.75m.
Paraic McGettigan placed fifth in the Senior 2000m steeplechase, the St Columba’s College student finishing in 6:48.72.
Finn Valley AC athlete Amy Greene clocked a big PB over 5000m on Saturday night at a BMC meet in Birmingham.  At the Birmingham University Athletics Track, Amy finished in 16:43.53.
John Kelly travelled to Bergen, Norway to compete in the Trond Mohn Games last week. John threw to 17.86m to place fifth in the men’s shot put at the Fana Stadion.  The Trond Mohn Games are a World Athletics Continental Tour silver level meet.
Finn Valley AC athlete Cara Laverty has graduated from Providence College, Rhode Island and was in action at the NCAA round one.  At the University of Kentucky in Lexington, crossed the line in a time of 4:21.18 to finish ninth in her heat of the 1500m.