Winning song is 'for the people who have less than others'

by Síofra Grant

Sean McDonnell is a fifth year student in St Finian’s who recently won the top prize in the 2026 Cavan Institute Inter School Song Competition.

He won with an original song of his called ‘Foinse’, just one of many that the young musician has penned.

“I entered it because my music teacher sent me this email about this thing,” Sean told the Westmeath Examiner.

“She sent it on to me for the competition two years ago and then I never got around to doing it, but this time I was like, right I’ll just send in a song so... I was writing a few at the time.”

Sean submitted his entry in August 2025, and didn’t hear anything until till the end of the year. “Back in December of 2025, I got an email saying I was through to the final in Cavan on January 15.

“I was happy out, so then we got my whole music class to come with me. We all went up on the bus and it was class, it was really good and there were loads of other acts.”

When he and his class arrived at the venue, Sean got ready to perform. “It was a live competition, I think there were 12 acts. I was third up. We went up around 11 o’clock for a sound check, I did that and then the competition started at 12. There were loads of people there supporting us.

“I went up, did my song and got a good reception, sat back down and they announced the winner at the end.

“I was honestly not expecting it at all because a whole lot of the other acts were bands, like full bands, and some of them were class.

“I was thinking, oh these are going to be winning it, but then they announced third, second and then they said my name.

“It was a really, really great feeling.”

‘Foinse’ is one of many songs the young musician has penned. “Foinse is written for all the people in the world who are starving and who have less than others.

“I wrote it as sort of an ode to them, in honour of the sacrifices they have made and the hardships of their lives.

“The inspiration came from seeing people on the news and on TV, struggling for food and basic shelter.

“I wanted people to acknowledge the suffering these individuals experience, and so I wrote Foinse for them.

“Foinse is Irish for ‘fountain’ or ‘source’ or ‘spring’, and it is a song about giving.”

Sean received quite the welcome when he returned to school, and what made the victory even sweeter is he had won another competition a week prior.

“I had won two things in a row, and everyone was telling me to do the lottery or something.”

Sean has been playing music for more than a decade, and has been performing for about the same amount of time.

“I remember getting my first little guitar around my Communion – I bought that with my Communion money. Then my grandad taught me everything I know, everything on guitar.

“In terms of singing, we play together in a lot of nursing homes and stuff around the town now, so it’s really nice.

“And I’ve been doing a lot in the arts centre in Mullingar for 11 or 12 years as well, doing shows there.”

As well as his history as a performer and musician, Sean has been writing his own material he was 13. “I wrote little songs, they weren’t great, and then when I was 16, about two years ago, I properly got into writing songs.

“Then I had this big inspirational era of writing songs, I wrote 50 over the course of a few months and now I have two books full of original songs.”

As well as winning competitions and writing his own music, Sean is playing the lead role of Orpheus in Hadestown this April, with the Mullingar Student Players. Tickets available at Mullingar Arts Centre.