AAI National Inter-Counties Cross-Country Championship The Curragh, County, Kildare November 25th 2007

November 25th 2007

Stranorlar man, Gary Murray’s performance, in winning the 'Inter-Counties Cross-Country Championship' at the Curragh yesterday, was outstanding. Running against and defeating a number of full time athletes, many of whom are carded under the 'Irish Sports Council Athlete Support Scheme', was indeed very sweet for an athlete that holds down a full time teaching job and still competes and wins on the highest stage.

The race was intriguing, as pre race favourite Mark Christie (Westmeath), Gareth Turnbull (Antrim), Vinny Mulvey and Joe Sweeney (Dublin) and Murray raced shoulder to shoulder, in a real battle for supremacy. Time and time again, attempts were made to gain an advantage, only for the pack to pull in the leader. Murray continuously pushing the pace and finally broke the field as the last 1,500m approached. He went on to win impressively from Turnbull, who overtook Christie over the last few hundred. Gary will now lead the Irish team at the European Cross Country Championships, in Italy in two weeks time.

Two Tír Chonaill Athletes were in action. Daire Brennan made the long trip from the South of England and had an excellent run to finish 59th in a time of 36.20 while John Cannon was also very pleased with his decision to run. He recorded a time of 41.45 to finish 94th. On the team front ,Donegal got, by the narrowest of margins, bronze medals. The counties 6^th scorer Daire Brennan, Tír Conaill AC, who made the trip from England for the race, had three places to spare on Clare’s final scorer, guaranteeing Donegal medals by three points.

Gary Murray wins 'National Inter-Counties Cross-Country Championship'

1	Gary Murry	Donegal	31.46
2	Gareth Turnbull	Antrim	31.57
3	Mark Christie (U.23)	Westmeath	32.03
4	Vincent Mulvey	Dublin	32.06
5	Joseph Sweeney (U.23)	Dublin	32.07
6	Joseph Mc Allister	Antrim	32.29
7	Michael Clohisey (U.23)	Dublin	32.34
8	Colm Rooney	Dublin	32.40
9	Cathal Dennehey (U.23)	Limerick	32.42
10	Alan Mc Cormack	Dublin	32.44
11	Gary Thornton	Galway	32.46
12	Sergio Turea (U.23)	Dublin	33.01
13	Jason fahy (U.23)	Clare	33.15
14	Mark Ryan	Dublin	33.19
15	Brian Maher	Kilkenny	33.21
16	Paul Pollock (U.23)	Antrim	33.22
17	Patrick Brennan	Sligo	33.23
18	Paul Mc Namara	Galway	33.29
19	John Eves	Dublin	33.31
20	Dermot Galvin	Clare	33.33
21	Cillian O'Leary	Cork	33.34
22	Colm Turner (U.23)	Limerick	33.48
23	Kevin Seaward	Antrim	33.49
24	Brian Mc Mahon	Cork	33.51
25	Rory Chesser (U.23)	Clare	33.55
26	Tadg O'Callaghan	Cork	34.07
27	Pauric Mc Kinney	Donegal	34.17
28	Jarlath Falls	Antrim	34.19
29	Dan Mulhare (U.23)	Laois	34.21
30	Sean Connolly	Dublin	34.22
31	Kieran Carlin	Donegal	34.23
32	Robert Malseed	Clonliffe Harriers A.C. (IND)	34.27
33	Gary Crossan	Donegal	34.29
34	Eoin Carlton (U.23)	Antrim	34.30
35	Sean Hehir (U.23)	Clare	34.36
36	Noel Kelly	Westmeath	34.42
37	Gary O'Hanlon	Gary Dublin	34.50
38	Conor Flanagan	Antrim	34.51
39	Barry Minnock	Offaly	34.52
40	James Mc Intyre	Clare	34.56
41	James King	Donegal	35.02
42	Brian Kirwin (U.23)	Dublin	35.20
43	Pat Mc Carton	Limerick	35.22
44	Andrew Connick (U.23)	Wexford	35.24
45	Gerard Heery	Meath	35.27
46	Thomas Evans	Kilkenny	35.33
47	Des Earls (U.23)	Wicklow	35.41
48	Niall Sheehan (U.23)	Kilkenny	35.45
49	Thomas Maunsell	Cork	35.50
50	Neil O'Rourke (U.23)	St. L. O'Toole A.C. (IND)	35.53
51	Rory Mc Donnell (U.23)	Meath	35.53
52	Cormac Fitzpatrick	Laois	35.53
53	Tomas Navickas	Westmeath	36.00
54	John Byrne	Mayo A.C. (IND)	36.06
55	Christopher Bracken(U.23)	Thurles Crokes (IND)	36.08
56	Ben Vaitkavichius	Westmeath	36.11
57	John Shine (U.23)	Cork	36.15
58	Tony Reilly	Laois	36.19
59	Daire Brennan	Donegal	36.20
60	Ciaran Fitzpatrick (U.23)	Laois	36.29
61	Terence Byrne	Wicklow	36.31
62	Brian Murphy	Clare	36.39
63	Martin Corcoran	Galway	36.45
64	Sean Caulfield	Kilkenny	36.49
65	Rudhairi Geraghty	Galway	36.52
66	Mark Leacy	Meath	36.55
67	John Harkin	Offaly	36.58
68	James Liddane	Clare	37.04
69	Cormac Conroy	Wicklow	37.06
70	Declan Monaghan	Meath	37.18
71	Cartage Grennan	Offaly	37.34
72	Robert Teevan	Dundrum South Dublin. (IND)	37.39
73	Fergal Geraghty	Galway	38.02
74	Edward O'Connor	Meath	38.05
75	Fechim Heery (U.23)	Meath	38.09
76	Brian Burton	Galway	38.19
77	Larry Lacey	Kilkenny	38.24
78	T.J. Whyte	Galway	38.29
79	Ultan Mc Master	Sligo	38.40
80	Paddy Dunne	Wicklow	38.40
81	Ger Guinea	Limerick	38.45
82	Alan Maye	Meath	39.04
83	Patrick Kavanagh	Kilkenny	39.05
84	John Canning	Newbridge A.C. (IND)	39.07
85	John Feery	Offaly	39.56
86	John O'Connell	Offaly	40.18
87	Luke Mitchell	Offaly	40.19
88	David Farrell	Kilkenny	40.19
89	Ben Mooney	Wicklow	40.50
90	Gary Farrell	Kilkenny	41.31
91	P.J. Dwyer	Kilkenny	41.41
92	Dara O'Brien	Galway	41.41
93	John Canning	Newbridge A.C. (IND)	41.43
94	John Cannon	Donegal	41.45
95	Bill Doherty	Kilkenny	42.03
96	Murty Hanley	Westmeath	42.06
97	Neil Lyons	Kilkenny	42.50
98	Denis Cormac	Kilkenny	42.58
99	P.J. Doyle	Wicklow	43.20
100	John Kirwin	North Laois A.C. (IND)	43.20

Gary Murray, St Malachy’s 1^st

Pauric McKinney, Letterkenny,27^th

Ciaran Carlin, Finn Valley 31^st

Gary Crossan, Letterkenny, 33^rd

James King, Milford,41^st

Daire Brennan, Tir Connail,59^th

1	Dublin	(A) 46 4 5 7 8 10 12
2	Antrim	(A) 109 2 6 16 23 28 34
3	Donegal	(A) 192 1 27 31 33 41 59
4	Clare	(A) 195 13 20 25 35 40 62
5	Galway	(B) 306 11 18 63 65 73 76
6	Kilkenny	(B) 333 15 46 48 64 77 83
7	Meath	(C) 381 45 51 66 70 74 75
8	Offaly	(B) 435 39 67 71 85 86 87
9	Wicklow	(C) 445 47 61 69 80 89 99

It addition to Murray’s outstanding victory, it was one of the most successful days ever, for Donegal athletes, at this level of competition. Ian Ward in the 'Under 18 Boys' was a most impressive winner.The Finn Valley lad, one of the most exciting talents to emerge on the local scene in a number of years, is quickly developing a winning All Ireland portfolio on track and cross-country.

Ian Ward (571)

The ever improving Michelle English (Letterkenny), was third in the under 18 Girls race while team titles came to Letterkenny, Under14 Boys, Cranford Under 12 Girls and 3^rd team place finishes to Finn Valley’s Under 18 Girls and Under 14 Boys

Michelle English (1196)