ATHLETICS: The enduring self-belief and determination of Martin McCarthy has finally made him national cross country champion, his first senior title.

That desire for victory never once faltered yesterday, and only at the finish did his steely expression turn into a smile.

On a day when all the demands of cross country running were tested to the limit, none more than physical endurance, McCarthy's will to win was simply unrivalled. At the end of the six full laps around the grand Wicklow setting of Avondale House he was a class apart.

Several athletes put up a hard challenge, most of all his Leevale team-mate Cathal Lombard. But while the course wound up and down the hill the 29-year-old McCarthy played a waiting game, before moving away on the final lap for the decisive victory.

Dundrum's Noel Berkeley made a brave effort to stay with the two Cork runners - and perhaps take his first title at the age of 38 - but he faltered slightly on the penultimate lap. Still he hung tough until the finish, and was rewarded with the bronze medal.

Berkeley's third place was pivotal in the senior men's team result. He helped Dundrum South Dublin edge out Clonliffe Harriers (40-43), and with that secured the club took a record clean sweep of all four team titles - senior men and women and junior men and women.

The most convincing victory of the afternoon went to Anne Keenan Buckley. Though aged 41 her career continues to inspire Irish athletes, and she's now won three of the last four senior titles. Once again Maria McCambridge found the front-running tactics of Keenan Buckley impossible to contain, and at the finish the Laois athlete had 44 seconds to spare on the runner-up.

Valerie McGovern displayed a remarkable return to form to take third in her first cross country race in three years.

As a contest, however, the senior men's race was by far the most absorbing.

The opening laps of the 12km race were cautious, with 10 athletes bunched together. Lombard surged to the front and gradually spread the chasing bunch into McCarthy, Berkeley, Cian McLoughlin and Robert Connolly.

With two laps remaining only the Cork duo were left in contention, though Lombard still pressed the pace.

"Well I wanted this title more than anyone," said McCarthy afterwards, and that attitude helped him comfortably drop Lombard on the last lap and eventually win by 13 seconds - clocking 40 minutes, 44 seconds.

"The last few years have been a bit of a disaster for me," added McCarthy, "but I knew I was right for this. I'd just spent eight weeks training in South Africa at my own expense. And I just wanted to win this one so much.

"And I actually I loved that course. It was quite dry, the way I like it. I knew on the last lap the title was mine, because I've always been quite strong from six minutes out from the finish."

For McCarthy, whose best previous placing was fourth, the absence of former champions Seamus Power and Peter Mathews took nothing from the thrill of winning.

"Yeah, some people said the field was depleted. But the way I felt today I think I could have mixed it with the both of them."

While his next main target will be the Berlin marathon in September, McCarthy's victory also gave him one of the two automatic places on the Irish team for the World Cross Country in Lausanne, where he hopes to contest both long and short course races. Lombard took the other automatic spot but is only interested in the long course.

Berkeley may yet gain a spot of the team, as could McLoughlin for his strong run in fourth place. Connolly, however, faded over the last few laps and only a top two finish in the short course trials in two weeks will ensure his team selection.

Keenan Buckley looks well capable of matching her 10th place individual finish of a year ago. Her dominance was all the more impressive as the recurrence of a rib injury had cast doubt over her fitness as late as last Thursday.

McCambridge also takes an automatic spot on the Irish team for Lausanne, but third-placed McGovern will also run the short course trials in the hope of securing her place. Valerie Vaughan, another contender for the Irish team, struggled a little on the demanding hills and finished in eighth place.

The two junior winners will also get a place on the Irish team. Mark Christie of Mullingar Harriers proved strongest in the junior men, outrunning Dundrum pair Alan McCormack and Joseph Sweeney.

Fionualla Britton of Sli Cualann won a record third straight title in the junior women.