Athletics National Inter-counties cross- country championships: Any doubt about Gary Murray's position as the best cross-country runner in Ireland right now was answered at Sligo racecourse yesterday.

The 25-year-old from Donegal rose confidently to the challenge of the National Inter-counties championships to easily win his first senior Inter-counties title, adding it to the Interclubs title he won last March.

It was a truly convincing victory for Murray, who forced Dublin's Rob Connolly, one of his main rivals, to take a costly breather such was the ferocity of his determined front running.

Connolly chased hard from the gun, but after six kilometres of the 10-kilometre race he hit cross-country's equivalent of the wall and was reduced to a walk. That allowed Murray enjoy the last circuit as something of a lap of honour and finish in 33 minutes 11 seconds - a full 30 seconds clear of the next best.

Yet there was plenty of competition back the field, the incentive being that the first three home in each of yesterday's four races (men's and women's senior and junior) were guaranteed places on the Irish team for next month's European Cross Country in Tilburg, the Netherlands.

Definitely joining Murray on the men's side will be Dublin's Mark Kenneally and Belfast's Gareth Turnbull. Kenneally ran a typically consistent race to hold down second spot (33:41), once Connolly's race was interrupted (he later rejoined but finished well down the field).

Turnbull, a 1,500-metre track specialist, was running well over distance but still managed to deal impressively with the testing course to come through for third, just four seconds behind Kenneally. It was also Turnbull's first championship race in over two years because of injury.

The race for automatic places among the senior women was almost as close. Dublin's Jolene Byrne also added her first Inter-counties title to her Interclubs title with a similar display of front running.

She finished 10 seconds clear of a surprise runner-up, Fionnuala Britton, by clocking 18:17 for the five-kilometre distance.

Defending champion Maria McCambridge - who has been troubled with a sciatica injury in recent weeks - could manage only sixth.

The other automatic spot on the Irish team went to Rosemary Ryan, the Sydney Olympian in 2000, who finished third in 18:34.

Given the prominence of their runners at the sharp end of the action, it was hardly surprising that Dublin won both senior titles, the men scoring 71 to edge out Cork and Donegal, and the women scoring just 20 to beat Donegal and Limerick.

Athletics Ireland will announce the line-ups of the Irish team later today, just under two weeks ahead of the Europeans in Tilburg on December 11th.

Alistair Cragg, Martin Fagan and Mary Cullen - all US-based - were pre-selected ahead of yesterday's races, and the senior men's team looks strong enough to contend for medals.

Murray made his European ambitions clear after yesterday's victory: "I do want to go there and run well, which I haven't done in that race yet," he said. "I felt very strong out there, and I know I still had the speed in my legs from the track as well."

A native of Ballybofey, Murray is a PE teacher based in Derry and runs with the St Malachy's club in Belfast. While always a precocious talent, and a junior champion in 1999, he has only lately started to fulfil his potential, and he puts much of that down to the sound coaching of David Burke.

With Cragg and Fagan pre-selected, and Murray, Kenneally and Turnbull earning their places yesterday, it looks like the remaining place on the Irish team will go to Sligo's track specialist David Kelly, who ran an excellent race to take fourth.

For Byrne, yesterday's senior women's victory also underlines her dominance in domestic cross-country.

Although the course was dry and relatively fast, it did include one testing hill on each circuit and she used that to her advantage to pull away from the opposition early on.

Dublin's Aoife Byrne, who finished fourth, also looks to have gained selection, with the remaining spot likely to go to McCambridge.

Both junior races also produced convincing winners.

Dublin's Linda Byrne finally claimed the junior women's title after several years of trying.

Mick Clohissey, who runs with the Raheny club in Dublin, also had something in reserve in claiming the junior men's title, although both Danny Darcy and Colin Costello were notable absentees. Both athletes should still make it to Tilburg.