McGrory surges to gold with new Donegal record in Santry

KELLY McGrory broke the Donegal record to win the Irish senior 400m hurdles title in Santry.

The Tir Chonaill AC woman surged to win in 59.41 seconds.

A superb run by McGrory staved of the threat of Deirdre Murray, the Na Fianna athlete who claimed silver in 60.31 seconds with Karen Dunne of Bohermeen third in 62.63 seconds.

McGrory eased through her heat in 62.63 seconds last night and was qualified as the fastest of the eight finalists.

Going out of lane 5 in today’s final, McGrory always seemed in control of things from the moment the gun went.

Two weeks ago, McGrory dipped under 60 seconds for the first time when beating Murray to gold at the AAI Games in Santry, clocking 59.77 seconds.

Earlier, Nakita Burke of Letterkenny AC dug deep for bronze in the women’s 5000m final.

A magnificent new PB of 16:26.83 shaved almost eight seconds off her previous best time over the distance.

Sligo AC’s Aoife Kilgallon took gold in 16:16.85 while Megan Ryan of Dundrum South Dublin (16:24.31) was the silver medalist.

Ryan had just a little more in the tank to edge Burke for second, but the Letterkenny woman will be thrilled with her medal-winning performance.

On Friday night, Lifford-Strabane AC’s Brendan O’Donnell took silver in the senior men’s hammer while a new Donegal record of 51.23m earned Adrienne Gallen a bronze in the senior women’s hammer.