Sports Review 2022: DECEMBER

With Christmas approaching, GAA action became sparse in December, with only a couple of teams left in provincial competition. All eyes were on The Downs early in the month as they set off for Croke Park again to take on Kilmacud Crokes in the AIB Leinster Club SFC final, 50 years after they last competed in the fixture. Unfortunately, there was to be no fairytale end to 2022, and with Galway’s Shane Walsh in spectacular form for Crokes, the Dublin champions prevailed on a scoreline of 1-12 to 0-8. Crokes had the hard work done in the first half, at the end of which The Downs trailed 1-9 to 0-1. Lar Wall’s troops improved substantially in the second half, and this young side will surely be in a determined hunt for county and possibly Leinster honours in 2023.

The last Westmeath club team in action for 2022, meanwhile, was Delvin Camogie Club. They benefited from a bye in their AIB All-Ireland junior ‘B’ camogie semi-final, with Roscommon Gaels handing the Leinster champions a walkover. In the final at Donaghmore Ashbourne on December 18 however, Jimmy O’Grady’s charges were outplayed by Cavan champions Lacken.

Locally, all of the remaining underage competitions concluded. Clonkill won the minor ‘A’ camogie final against a Castlepollard/Crookedwood/Cullion combination, with Holly Dowdall and Niamh Keogh firing 4-8 between them. Will Scahill and Padraig Monaghan impressed as Coláiste Mhuire, Mullingar annexed the North Leinster Colleges second year football ‘A’ title, while Castletown Geoghegan won the minor ‘B’ camogie final.

Westmeath GAA packed out rooms in the Mullingar Park Hotel on two occasions in December. The first was a magnificent gala banquet on December 2, MC’d by Will O’Callaghan. Here, a who’s who of local GAA talent past and present attended as medals were presented going all the way back to Westmeath’s NFL Division 2 win in 2008, and for victories as recent as the Tailteann Cup in July. Over 600 people sat down to a fine meal on what turned out to be a night to remember.

The following Thursday night, the Westmeath GAA county convention took place. A number of officers – secretary Pat Reilly, treasurer James Savage, assistant treasurer Dermot Fox and Irish officer Aidan Walsh – stepped down, with Reilly succeeded by Raharney’s Brendan Shaw. Alarm bells were raised about the pattern of spending on county teams, with Westmeath breaching the €1m mark in team expenditure in 2022. Frank Mescall, Westmeath GAA chairman, agreed with Mullingar Shamrocks delegate Barry Kelly that this was unsustainable going forward. On a positive note, the chairman talked about how Westmeath’s Tailteann Cup win had “captured the imagination” of the county.

Elsewhere in GAA, St Loman’s, Mullingar appointed long-serving player Paddy Dowdall as the senior team’s new manager, replacing Declan Kelly, while Garrycastle and Moate All Whites announced that John Benton and Liam O’Neill respectively would be taking over their senior sides. Westmeath Gaels remembered Páidí Ó Sé’s life and career ten years after his death, while Ger Egan, one of Westmeath’s best footballers of modern times, announced his decision to hang up his inter-county boots. The Tyrrellspass star is the only player to have captained Westmeath in two Leinster finals.

In snooker, Stephen von Beaumont won the Westmeath intermediate snooker championship final without dropping any frames, while in golf, the cold snap played havoc across Westmeath in early to mid December. At Mullingar GC, Steven O’Hara and Rosemary Whelehan were named as the new captains.

The month in soccer saw Loughnavalley’s Jessica Hennessy leave Athlone Town to join Shamrock Rovers’ women’s side, while in the CCFL Senior Division, a goal from Ryan McCormack saw Mullingar Athletic beat Mullingar Town in the town derby. In cycling meanwhile, Lakeside Wheelers’ Dylan Franzoni took part as the UCI Cyclocross World Cup came to Dublin.

In athletics, Mullingar Harriers’ novice men came first in the AAI National Novice and Juvenile Uneven Ages Cross Country in Cork, while the club was well represented at the European Cross Country Championships, where Cormac Dalton and Jamie Battle played their part in a record Irish medal haul. Another Harrier, Oisín Lane, won a national senior racewalk title at St Anne’s Park, Raheny.

Elsewhere in sport, Wilson’s Hospital School, Multyfarnham defeat Heywood CS of Laois 46-35 in their U16 Midlands ‘C’ regional basketball final, holding on tight to an early lead; Moate pro boxer Joe Ward earned a unanimous points win over Frenchman Frederic Julan in New York, taking another step up the professional boxing ladder; Rochfortbridge Pitch and Putt Club marked its 50th anniversary; Jarek Goralczyk and Ciaran Stapleton of Mullingar Kyokushinkai Karate Club were graded to sensei (teacher) Level at a national grading in Westport; while Mullingar’s Manchester City fans gathered in the Greville Arms Hotel, Mullingar for a special dinner attended by club legends.