McGlynn triumphs as Griggs fades to seventh spot

Strabane-based Ann-Marie McGlynn clinched her second Irish title in three weeks when she won the women's cross country championship in county Fermanagh as Nick Griggs had to settle for seventh spot in the men's senior race.

Forty-four-year-old McGlynn finished 11 seconds clear of Leevale's Niamh Allen as she triumphed in 27 minutes and five seconds with Tullamore's Danielle Donegan completing the podium places on the Castle Irvine Estate in Irvinestown.

The evergreen Offaly native showed no ill-effects from her Irish marathon title triumph in Dublin on 27 October as she had the 7,500-metre race wrapped up long before the finish.

The Letterkenny AC runner becomes the first athlete to win Irish marathon and cross country titles in the same year.

“This wasn’t in the plan. I went to the Dublin Marathon, I didn’t have to go to the well and I came off it in great nick," McGlynn told Athletics Ireland.

“I didn’t do anything apart from staying in contact and all of a sudden then I landed at the front. I kept that same momentum, I didn’t do anything stupid or crazy, my strength paid off in the end."

McGlynn's win helped Letterkenny secure second place in the women's team event behind Leevale and the Donegal club can look forward to joining the Cork outfit at the European Clubs event in Albufeira on 2 February.

Tyrone 19-year-old Griggs, competing in his first Irish Senior Cross Country Championship after his stellar junior career, looked to be in a head-to-head battle with Sligo man Keelan Kilrehill as they two of them were clear of the rest with just over 3,000m left in the men's race.

But Kilrehill, who competes for the Mayo-based Moy Valley club, then produced a burst which broke Griggs' resistance.

Griggs, who made global headlines last weekend by setting a new Parkrun world best time in Belfast, struggled for the remainder of the race as Ennis' Niall Murphy was 28 seconds behind Kilrehill in the runners-up spot, which also earned him the under-23 title, with last year's champion Cormac Dalton a further three seconds back in third.

Efrem Gidey, who had briefly led, Sean Tobin and William Fitzgerald completed the top six just ahead of Griggs, who was the second under-23 athlete over the line as he was 48 seconds behind the winner.

Griggs went into Sunday's race believing he was capable of winning a first Irish senior title but his plan always was to run the under-23 race in Antalya and he should have plenty of motivation to produce much better in Turkey after his below-par run in Fermanagh.

The Tyrone talent did lead Candour Track Club to the team title as team-mates Conall McClean, Callum Morgan and Luke Kelly occupied 11th, 16th and 27th positions which put them 13 points ahead of North Belfast, who had to settle for the runners-up position for the second successive year.

North's top finisher was Matthew Lavery in ninth with Finn McNally, Andrew Milligan and Conan McCaughey in 12th, 13th and 40th positions.

Lavery's finish is likely to earn him an under-23 berth in Turkey alongside Griggs.

'To win like that is unreal'

Kilrehill, meanwhile, couldn't his excitement at winning a title he had long cherished.

"This is the one title I couldn’t finish athletics without, it’s the one I’ve dreamt of. To win it like that is unreal,” said the Sligo man, who had been the most impressive domestic cross country performer in the build-up to Sunday's race.

Candour athlete Roise Roberts can also look forward to a trip to Antalya after her senior women's 12th place left her the third under-23 athlete over the line behind Dundrum South Dublin's Emma McEvoy and Finn Valley's Amy Greene.

There were several other impressive performances by Northern Ireland-based athletes with Willowfield's Lucy Foster clinching a 20-second victory over Enniskillen Running Club's Annabel Morrison in the women's under-20 race, as Youghal's Avril Millerick completed the podium positions.

Lagan Valley's Frank McGrath was second in the men's under-20 race, six seconds behind UCD's Jonas Stafford, with Enniskillen Running Club's Harry McKenzie third at boys under-18 level and Lagan Valley's Eva Bartlett and Willowfield's talent Emer McKee first and third in the girls under-18 event.