Successful weekend at Leinster Fleadh
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Grúpa Naomh Odhrán from Ballynacargy Comhaltas competing in 15-18 Grúpa Cheoil.Image 2 of 5
LEFT Marie Claire, Rachel and Robert Maxwell tuning up before their harp competitions at the Leinster Fleadh.Image 3 of 5
Emma King and Deirdre O’Brien from Ballinagore, practising ahead of competitions at the Leinster Fleadh.Image 4 of 5
The Templeoran Céilí Band pictured ahead of playing in the highly competitive senior Céilí Band competition. Photos by Shane KingImage 5 of 5
Ballynacargy Full Set Ladies 15-18 Leinster champions with mentors Niamh Penrose (left) and Katie Baird.The Leinster Fleadh in Dublin at the weekend July 7-9 was successful for the Westmeath contingent who made the journey to the capital. An atmosphere of friendly rivalry was evident around the venue, the TU Dublin campus, everybody hoping to claim a top prize and book places at the competitions at Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann in Mullingar in August.
The competitions drew the province’s best musicians, singers, dancers and storytellers and the adjudicators had a tough job as they had to send first and second placed competitors through to Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann.
Westmeath showed their strength in the set dancing competitions and came away with numerous titles in the junior and senior categories. Provincial medals were brought home by Ballynacargy, Lough Lene Set Dancers, St Joseph’s of Streamstown, Moate, Ballinagore and Castletown Geoghegan. The sets will now march on to compete at the all-Ireland in four weeks’ time. The standard in the music competitions was high and the huge number of competitors made medals hard to come by. But many musicians from the county matched that high standard and there were winners in (among others) the fiddle, banjo, mandolin, concertina and bodhrán competitions.
The county also came away with five medals in the singing categories across the four age groups in both English and Irish. They included a win for Dick Stokes in the newly composed song category, who wrote a song about last year’s fleadh in Mullingar. The song, sung by Shane Heraty, was a firm favourite with the judges and won him a gold medal to qualify the song for the upcoming All-Ireland.
The two big event that draws large crowds to the fleadh are the Ghrúpa Cheoil and Céilí Band competitions. The Mullingar branch of Comhaltas had groups in the 12-15 and 15-18 categories alongside Ballynacargy CCÉ who had entrants in the Ghrúpa Cheoil and Céili band competitions. The groups of young musicians performed well but had to give way to strong groups from Wexford and Laois, who emerged victorious.