Westmeath examiner 2014 sport stars monthly winners

This year's Westmeath Examiner Sport Stars event takes place on Friday 6th February in the Mullingar Park Hotel and are once again kindly sponsored by the Mullingar Park Hotel.

The highlight of the night, as always, will be the announcement of the overall Sports Star of the Year award, as well as the Young Sports Star of the Year, while the Readers’ Choice and Hall of Fame awards will also be revealed.

Each of the monthly winners are pictured and detailed below.

Tickets – which entitle the holder to a sumptuous four course meal amid the luxurious hospitality which the Mullingar Park Hotel offers its guests – are on sale at €45 apiece, with attractive group discounts available.

For more information, contact the Westmeath Examiner’s Teresa Bolger or Rosie Harding on 044 934 6700 to secure your seat.

 

JANUARY

Aidan Keena (soccer)

As further evidence of Mullingar Athletic’s growing strength as a soccer nursery, it was announced in January that clubman Aidan Keena would lead the attack for the Republic of Ireland U15s in an international soccer tournament at Antalya, Turkey, which took place in February. The striker and his young colleagues lost out to the hosts and a highly rated Netherlands side.

 

FEBRUARY

 

Michael Fadian (soccer)

Michael Fadian was the stand-out player for a resurgent Mullingar Town in February, scoring goals for fun – including a hat-trick against Mostrim United – as Town marched towards the CCFL Division 1 title, which they eventually won in March.

Also in February, Fadian scored the winner, as Town dumped Senior Division side Clara Town out of the Combined Counties Cup. Town continue to go from strength to strength with Fadian leading the attack.

 

MARCH

Mullingar Harriers (athletics)

March was a memorable month for Mullingar Harriers, underlined by success on a number of fronts. Members came away with a haul of 17 medals at the All-Ireland Schools Cross Country Championships in Cork IT on March 8; a further 12 medals were won at the AAI Juvenile Indoors at Athlone IT; while two young club members, Alanna Bate and Shane Hughes, registered impressive finishes while representing Ireland at the Schools International Cross Country in Bolton, England.

 

APRIL

Robbie McCarthy (handball)

Perennial award winner Robbie reached the promised land in April, following up an historic clean sweep of All-Ireland handball titles by beating American pro Luis Moreno in the World Players of Handball (WPH) Players’ championship in Utah, and climbing to no. 1 in the world rankings. Earlier in the year, McCarthy claimed the All-Ireland 40x20 senior singles crown to complete the set of domestic gongs, but international success was all the sweeter.

 

MAY

Mullingar RFC youths (rugby)

Mullingar Rugby Club continued to underline its status as a top Leinster rugby nursery with an outstanding underage provincial double in May. First up were the U20s, who showed nerves of steel to defeat Gorey RFC 20-12 in extra time to clinch the Leinster U20 Harry Gale Cup. Simultaneous to this May bank holiday triumph as a tremendous 29-17 win over Tullow in the Leinster U15 McAuley Cup final.

 

JUNE

 

Brendan Murtagh (hurling)

Former Sports Star of the Year Brendan was in scintillating form during June, opening Clonkill’s 2014 SHC campaign with an authoritative performance against Crookedwood, before going on to lead the Loughegar side’s attack in the Leinster Club Hurling League Division 1 final. He clocked up 1-6 in the drawn game against Wexford side Buffer’s Alley, before picking off 0-10 in the replay, turning out man-of-the-match performances as Clonkill prevailed.

 

JULY

Aoife McDonagh (frisbee)

In a first for the Westmeath Examiner Sports Awards, competitive team-based frisbee sport is recognised. In August, Ireland travelled to Lecco, Italy for the World Junior Ultimate Frisbee Championships, and in July, Baltrasna, Mullingar girl and NUIG student Aoife McDonagh was named among the country’s U20 squad.

 

AUGUST - JOINT WINNER

Simon Carr (tennis)

Our August award is shared; first up is multi-talented young Mullingar sportsman Simon Carr, who took his achievements in his chosen sport of tennis to new heights with a hat-trick of titles at the National Tennis Championships at Dublin’s Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club. Later in 2014, he won U18 and senior titles at the National Indoor Championships, a phenomenal achievement for the 16 year old.

 

AUGUST - JOINT WINNER

Westmeath Pitch and Putt

Also in August, our other joint award winners, the cream of Westmeath pitch and putt, won senior and intermediate titles at the inaugural Leinster Inter-County pitch and putt championships, held in the Westmeath venue of Collinstown and at Athgarvan, Co. Kildare.

Westmeath narrowly missed out on a hat-trick, picking up silver in the junior championship.

 

SEPTEMBER

Derek McGee (motorsport)

The “Mullingar Missile”, motorcyclist Derek McGee, stole the show in September by clinching the 750cc Southern Centre Supertwin Championship at the 30th Annual Killalane Road Races, adding a second title to the 600cc Supersport crown won at Faughneen two weeks previous. Later in the year, McGee signed for Northern Ireland-based team Wilson Craig Racing, and announced his intention to take on the Isle of Man TT in 2015.

 

OCTOBER

Ciaran and Killian Doyle (hurling)

The twins represented Westmeath and their school, St Joseph’s Rochfortbridge during the year, but it was with their club Raharney that they impressed most, leading the attack for the club en route to senior, U21 and minor hurling finals. Killian and Ciaran hit 0-9 and 1-1 respectively as Raharney got the better of Castlepollard in the county’s senior hurling final in October.

The following weekend, they shared 2-11 in the U21 hurling semi-final against Castletown-Geoghegan – a title won by the Blues in late November.

 

NOVEMBER

Lakeside Wheelers (cycling)

Not for the first time, Cycling Ireland named Lakeside Wheelers, Mullingar as the country’s cycling club of the year at the organisation’s annual dinner in November. The award was mainly in recognition of the club’s excellent hosting of the National Cycling Championships in Rochfortbridge and Multyfarnham in June and September, during which several thousand riders, some of them top professionals, converged on north Westmeath.

 

DECEMBER

Tom McCormack (athletics)

Retired fireman Tom, who moved to the US in the early 1970s to take up a sports scholarship at East Tennessee State University, capped a wonderful sporting year by being named the Masters Athlete of the Year by USA Track and Field. Over the course of a highly productive 2014, the father of two not only won seven different national titles (5,000m and 10,000m on the track; the mile, 5, 10 and 12k on the roads; and 5k cross country), he also broke the national road records in the 5k and 10k.