Mullingar Tennis team and Conor Gilsenan take final Sports Stars awards
With just over two weeks to go to the annual Mullingar Park Hotel/Westmeath Examiner Sports Stars of the Month Gala night in the Mullingar Park Hotel, the final two monthly award winners for 2010 have been chosen by the adjudicating panel.
The November award has gone to the vastly experienced Mullingar Tennis Club’s Provincial Towns Cup team which did their club and their town proud in mid November when ousting Enniscorty in the final of the Provincial Towns Cup which was plsayed in Carlow. Claiming the honours for Mullingar were Helen Gibney, Teresa Heery and Ann Varley, along with Ger Dowling, Roddy Corbett and Jimmy Lynch, names which have been synonymous with Mullingar Tennis Club for many years.
Their devotion to the game paid rich dividends in Carlow and they are worthy recipients of the November award. One month later, a young man who is really setting off on a serious sporting career, earned the signal honour of leading out his country in an interntational rugby match. Mullingar teenager, Conor Gilsenan, a pupil at Clongowes Wood College in Kildare, captained the Irish Under 20 Talent Squad when they took on England in Anglesea Road on December 30.
An established member of his senior’s squad - indeed he will captain Clongowes in this season’s Leinster Senior Cup - Conor has been building a big reputation as a rampaging back row specialist and he appears to have a very bright future in a game he commenced playing with Mullingar Rugby Club in Cullion. A more than useful Gaelic footballer, Conor is a deserving nominee for the December Sports Star award. Both the tennis team and Conor Gilsenan will be invited to the Annual Gala Night in the Mullingar Park Hotel on Friday, February 4 where they will join many other fine Westmeath sportsmen and women at a function which will be compered by RTE presenter, Robbie Irwin. Tickets for this Gala event are only available from the Westmeath Examiner and people wishing to support our monthly winners can contact Sandra McCann at 044 9446700.
With demand for tickets exceeding expectation, early booking is advisable. This week, the Westmeath Examiner will also launch a readers’ choice voting panel on the Westmeath Examiner website - www.westmeathexaminer.ie - and this proved very popular with many last year.