Ace AC's Shea O'Donnell is no stranger to winning national medals and he did it again at the weekend, this time for his school St Marys Diocesan Drogheda.

Shea, who last year ran in the European under 18 Championships at 800m, showed his all-round ability with a National Schools Cross Country medal over a tough 6k course in Galway on Saturday. Top five finishers received a coveted national schools medal and Shay finished in 5th.

Shea's training partner, Ace AC’s Lorcan Forde Dunne, qualified for the European Championships in 2024 but missed out through injury, ran this year and wasn't too far behind him in eighth place, just missing out on the top five podium. 

Shea’s 5th place and Lorcan’s 8th helped the St Mary’s team win the team Gold. St Mary’s had a strong 18th place finish with Sam O'Neill from Dunleer AC and a 46th place finish from Jack Garvey of Boyne AC. Then came three more Ace AC athletes the ever improving Jamie O’Reilly, Rhys Clark and Niall Murray who all made up the gold medal winning national team.

In the Senior Girls race Ace AC’s Eimear Cooney also had a great race, finishing in 10th place despite her training over the past two weeks being hampered with flu.