Westmeath Community Games

Provincial crowns for Ballynacargy, Delvin and Mt. Temple/Baylin: Westmeath teams came home from the Leinster Finals in Carlow with four Leinster titles and the gold medals, i.e. Delvin Under 10 draughts, Ballynacargy/Sonna Under 12 draughts, Mt. Temple/Baylin girls Under 13 indoor soccer and Delvin boys Under 13 table tennis.The aforementioned champions will now go forward to represent their Area and County at the National Finals in the A.I.T., Athlone on the weekend of May 22/23/24. Full details of this weekend will be sent out to all areas just as soon as they become available.Congratulations to all the teams, team managers and parents who travelled to the Carlow venue and made it a very successful day of top class competitions.The day got off to a great start when the results of the semi-finals filtered through with Delvin Under 10 draughts (Enda Gaffney, Paula Murtagh, James Drumm, Conor Leavy, Lorraine Williams, Jack Vaughan, Eoin Quinn) defeating Hackettstown, Carlow and Ballynacargy/Sonna (Grainne Byrne, Eoin Nally, Troy Maher, Shannon Flood, Ronan Burke, Philip Price, Vicki Penrose) had defeated Clongeen, Wexford. Unfortunately, the Delvin Under 14 draughts team of (Oisin Quinn, Emmet Brady, Glen Gaffney, Fiachra Bray, Tara Crowe) were narrowly defeated by the Leinster champions, Hacketstown, Carlow.The draught finals saw Delvin Under 10 defeat Killoe, Longford and Ballynacargy/Sonna captured their first Leinster title with a great win over Clonard, Meath.The Under 13 girls indoor soccer team (Amy Donoghue, Naoise Rasmussen, Aoife Connolly, Aisling Flynn, Brona Daly, Patricia Grennan, Laura Woods) from Mt. Temple/Baylin put their manager and supporters through two nail-biting games when they had to play extra time and a penalty shoot-out against Bree/Davistown, Wexford in the semi-final and had to go through the same process again to clinch the Leinster title against Kilashee, Longford.The girls Under 15 indoor soccer team from The Downs (Emma Raleigh, Leanne Duncan, Niamh Duncan, Ruth Judge, Fiona Bell, Amy Staunton, Beth McGuire, Mary Lynam) and the boys Under 16 indoor soccer team from Mt. Temple/Baylin (Michael McMahon, Evan Roarke, James Pettit, Niall Killane, Jamie Boland, Tommy McCoy, Harry Hughes, Robert Hickey) were both very unlucky to be beaten by Myshall, Carlow and Castlebridge, Wexford respectively.In table tennis Under 13 boys and girls and boys Under 16 we were represented by Delvin who picked up one team gold and two team silver medals.They would have pick up either gold or silver medals in the girls Under 16 table tennis if they were able to field a team on the day as the Dublin and Wexford teams also had to withdraw due to missing members.Delvin Under 13 gold medal winners were, Sean Kellegher, Henry Ogle, Ryan Polgar, Patrick Cannon. Under 13 girls team members were, Kelly Carpenter, Megan Maguire, Leanne Weir, Emma Williams, Eadaoin Dolan. The boys Under 16 team were, Conor Dolan, Cody Gaffney, Conor Milligan, Emmet Fox.The Tyrrellspass badminton team of, Aaron O"Brien, Shane Dunne, Mark Fitzpatrick, Sean Corcoran, Molly O"Reilly, Siochan Cusack came up against last year"s Leinster champions, Taghmon, Wexford and despite their best efforts, had give way to this very strong Wexford team who retained their title over Meath.Our final entry in these finals were the Beechpark/Coosan Under 12 chess team of: Eoin Fahey, Eoin Meaney, Mark Ryan, Kevin Temple, Bill Kelly, Ciaran Meaney and Aoife Temple who were involved in a very tough match against Fierces/Murrins, Wexford. The game finished all square which caused some controversy and a replay followed which Beechpark/Coosan won.In the final Beechpark/Coosan came up against an in-form Caragh, Kildare who had a convincing win over Ardagh, Longford in their semi-final. Despite the long hours of intense concentration, the Beechpark/Coosan team put up a great show but had to settle for the silver medals on a 3-2 scoreline.Summer Team GamesNow that all team managers and Area Secretaries have a copy of the summer games programme we remind them that they should play their fixtures on or before the dates set out and by providing birth/baptismal certificates of all winning competitors when required. It is important that the first named teams, who have home advantage, will give ample notice when making contact with their opponents and that the venues are properly marked and referees are neutral.Under14 QuizThis Friday, April 3 is the date of the Under 14 Table Quiz which will take part in the Town Band Hall, Mullingar Business Park. Teams should sign in at 7.40 for an 8pm start.Medals will be presented on the night and the winning team will go forward to the National Finals in A.I.T., Athlone on weekend of 22/24 May.Note - All members of the County Committee are requested to attend on Friday night and help out.Entries For Art, Singing and Swimming now closedIf you have not sent in your entries for Art & Model Making, Swimming, Gymnastics, Recitation, Culture Corner, Comedy Sketch. Solo Modern Dance, Set Dancing/Trad. Irish, Modern Dance Group, Group Singing, Under 14 Quiz, Cross Country or Sports Induction, then you are too late as only panel forms received by 31st will be included in draw.Apart from the Under 14 Quiz (on Friday, 3rd April), Art & Model Making (on Saturday, 18th April) and Swimming (on Sunday, 26th April), dates and venues for the other events will be announced this week.Dates For Your DiaryCounty Quiz Final - Friday, 3rd April in Mullingar Town Band Hall, Lynn Industrial Estate, Mullingar. Check in at 7.40 p.m.Swimming - Entries now Closed, County Final, 26th April, 12.30 p.m..Art & Model Making - Entries now closed. County Final Saturday, 18th AprilGymnastics - Closing date - 31st. March. County Final to be announced.First Weekend in Athlone A.I.T. - Fri., Sat., Sun. 22nd, 23rd and 24th May.Closing date for summer teams to Leinster is the 15th May.First Rounds - 3rd to 10th June. Second Round - 17th to 24th June. Semi-finals and finals - 11th July in Carlow.Athletic County Finals - Sunday, 14th June. Field Events Monday, 15th June.Closing date for entries, Saturday, 31st May.National Finals in Athlone A.I.T. - 2nd Weekend - August 14th/16th. Third Weekend - August 21st / 23rd.Copy of BIRTH/BAPTISMAL CERTS - should accompany panel forms.Only panel forms received by the closing date will be accepted - No Late Entries.Progressive 25Our thanks to all our card playing friends who turn out every Monday night to support the Community Games. The winners on Monday last were: Mary J. Maher, Mary E. Maher, Dan Geerah, Gerry Bennett. Raffle, Seamus Maher, Babara Shanaghan, Mickey Keogh. Last game, Fin Kelly, Seamus Maher. See you all on Monday night at 9pm.