Proud occasion for St Oliver Plunketts Hurling Club

This year represents the 50th Anniversary of the St Oliver Plunketts Hurling Club, Mullingar and a great night of celebration took place in the Greville Arms Hotel on Saturday, May 16.

With Will O’Callaghan as MC and former Westmeath senior hurling manager, Michael Ryan, the special guest, a night of reflection was had, while the club also has its sights set on continuing to build and progress. Westmeath GAA County Committee chairman Paddy Wallace was also present.

There were over 300 people in attendance at what was a wonderful event. It was a proud occasion for the minor hurlers of St Oliver Plunketts, who were honoured for their success last year. It represents a first minor premier title in over two decades, a clear sign that the Mullingar club is making strides when it comes to the development of young hurlers. The minor hurlers received their championship and league medals on the evening.

The club operates a one-club model and the camogie club is also part of the St Oliver Plunketts family. Medals were presented to the camogie team following their success last year. It was a great social occasion and friends of the club came together to share their memories.

Chairman Liam Dalton said he found the club very welcoming when he first arrived in 1978 and having played for 10 years, he remained involved: “I’ve been really delighted to be a member of St Oliver Plunketts for over 30 years now. The Club is my heart,” he said.

Liam joined the club when he came to work as a GP in Mullingar and is a former member of the St Ryangh’s Hurling Club in Offaly.

The chairman is hoping the club’s renewed focus on underage development and the success of the minor hurlers last year can lead to a breakthrough at senior level in the future. They would dearly love to go one better than their final defeat to Castletown Geoghegan in 2013.

“We have been on a trajectory the past few years, and all of that was driven on by a lot of our club members. There’s a great energy about underage development and our youth system now. We have great people involved,” Liam enthused.

“We have tremendous committee members who give a lot to the club. It’s a unified club, which I think is important,” he added. On the night, the late Tony Donoghue was remembered and members of the family were in attendance, as were family members of the late John Joe Lynch and Ben Kelly, both of whom played key roles in the club’s history.

Recalling the 2025 minor hurling success

For the first time in 24 years, St Oliver Plunketts celebrated a premier minor hurling title and it brought a great buzz to the club, generating a feel good factor among players, mentors and supporters. The breakthrough augurs well for the future, with this talented group feeding into an already successful U20 side.

The emphatic 6-12 to 0-7 victory over hat-trick chasing Clonkill was a powerful statement. Hurling is clearly on an upward curve in Mullingar, long overdue given the club’s proud standing and rich history. A superbly drilled Plunketts side played brilliantly and full-forward Adam Buckley planted seeds of doubt in the Clonkill defence from an early stage, his first half hat-tick giving them a sizeable lead at the interval - 4-7 to 0-3.

Scorers - St Oliver Plunketts: A Buckley 4-0, P Casey 0-7 (3f; 1 ‘65’), B McNamee 0-4, E Meehan and H Corroon 1-0 each, M Fry and M Weir 0-1 each.

St Oliver Plunketts: Ryan McNamee; Robert Hogg, Mikee Weir, Conor Walshe; Charlie Foy, Seán Hayes, Hugo Sleator; Ben McNamee, Críostóir Ormsby; Padraig Casey, Rory O’Brien, Eoin Meehan; Michael Fry, Adam Buckley, Will Scahill

Subs: Hugo Corroon for Fry (37), Seán Byrne for Foy (54), Oisin Gavin, Cillian Traynor and Oisin Murray for Walshe, Hogg and Meehan (58).

St Oliver Plunketts are also keen to build on their Senior ‘B’ success three years’ ago and they will not rest until a senior ‘A’ hurling title has been delivered to Robinstown.