Well done to all the intrepid DSD athletes, coaches and families who travelled to Derry at the weekend for the Inter-Counties and All-Ireland Even Age groups cross country champtionships!

Pride of place goes to Joe Sweeney for a fantastic win in the Men's Senior Event. This gives Joe automatic selection for the European Cross Country Championships in the Algarve next month. Alan McCormack ran strongly for 9th place - a good return to form!

Breandan O'Neill was 3rd placed overall in the men's race - a great break through! Breandan was 1st home in the under 23 competition and is also an automatic qualifyer for Portugal.Robert Corbally was 4th - another excellent performance. Rob must wait till after the selectors meet on Tuesday night, to learn if he's on the team for the Europeans.

Emmet Jennings continued his great run of form this year, with a 2nd place finish in the men's Junior Race. So he's off to Portugal too!

On the women's side, Bryony Treston ran a strong race to finish 3rd in the uner 23 competition (another automatic qualifyer!). Ava Hutchinson got 4th in the womens race and must also wait for the selectors' deliberations.

In the women's junior event, Fiona McKenna had a great run to finish 4th. Sinead Denny was 7th & her sister Niamh was 12th. They too must wait till Tuesday to see if they have been selected.

Hazel Murphy was unfortunately sick on the day and unable to compete. This was very disappointing for her, as she had run so well in the Dublins.

Our juveniles had to deal with very challenging conditions with snow and cold weather - real cross country conditions! We had an excellent day in the Team competitions - really showing off our strength in depth. Our u/12 and u/16 girls won gold. The u/18 girls and u/16 boys got silver and the u/14 girls and u/12 boys got the bronze medals. Our individual winner on the day was Siofra Clereigh-Buttner with an excellent win in the girls under 16 event.