Great day for DSD in Santry

Numbers were disappointing, with 48 turning out for the senior men's race and 22 for the senior women's race.

The good news is that DSD clubmates Hazel Murphy and Joe Sweeney looked in great shape with decisive victories.

On a good day for the club, Fiona McKenna battled it out with team- mate Sinead Denny to win the junior women's race and take team gold ahead of Celtic and Raheny.

Next up were the junior men, and Emmett Jennings took DSD's second win of the day when he beat Jayme Rossiter and Ian Guiden from Clonliffe Harriers. With Conor McGuinness fifth and Eric McCann ninth, Clonliffe took the team medals. DSD was second and Raheny third.

From the start of the senior women's race, Hazel Murphy pushed the pace, leaving the chasers to battle for the minor placings. Aoife Talty of Raheny did her best to stay in touch, with Aoife Brady of Sportsworld on her shoulders and Becky Woods of Clonliffe not far behind.

Bryony Treston of DSD battled her way into second place, holding off Brady and Woods. Her efforts ensured that DSD finished first of the teams ahead of Sportsworld and Raheny.

All that was left now was the men's senior 10km. British-based Jonathan Heneghan, running for Clonliffe, forced the pace on the opening lap, but Joe Sweeney then took over.

From then, he was on his own. Behind him, his DSD clubmates Breandan O'Neill and Alan McCormack, along with Alan O'Brien of Crusaders, MSB's John Coghlan and Sean Hehir of Rathfarnham were fighting not just for medals but for team honours.

Sweeney ran an untroubled time of 32 minutes 18 seconds for victory, with O'Neill second. Coghlan, running a smart race for third, was winning a first senior Dublin medal for his club in 30 years.

O'Brien held out for fourth, with former Intercounty champion Alan McCormack showing a welcome return to form when he finished fifth and helped DSD to team victory.

Raheny, led home by Mick Clohissey in seventh place, were second and Rathfarnham WSAF third, with a good run by national intermediate champion Sean Hehir in sixth place.