‘Dancing till the wee small hours’
Donegal Association in Mullingar event
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Miriam Finn, Shirley Daly, Elaine Long and Rosemarie Elliott at the Westmeath/Donegal night.Image 2 of 15
Enda, Conan, Frances and Alan from For Folk’s Sake provided the entertainment.Image 3 of 15
Pat and Patricia Brogan from Mullingar.Image 4 of 15
Anne and Mary Corroon from Curraghamore.Image 5 of 15
Eamon McGowan, Frank Galligan and Mark Breslin.Image 6 of 15
Eileen Dunleavey and Joan Crawford at the Greville Arms Hotel.Image 7 of 15
Joe and Patricia Boyle from Streamstown.Image 8 of 15
Michael Murphy from Killbeggan and Charlie Dunleavy from Mullingar.Image 9 of 15
Caption.Image 10 of 15
Niall and Paddy McHugh at the social night.Image 11 of 15
Fee and Stephen Kennedy from Killucan.Image 12 of 15
Peter McCahill and Caroline O Fiaich from Mullingar.Image 13 of 15
Seamus and Maura McLoughlin from Mullingar.Image 14 of 15
Fionn and Sean Gallagher from Mullingar.Image 15 of 15
A night of singing, dancing and celebrating the north west brightened up the Greville Arms Hotel on Friday week last, March 7, as the Donegal Association in Mullingar held their first local event.
It will be the first of many, according to MC for the event, Frank Galligan, who welcomed a “full house” on the night.
“What was lovely about it was we got some generous sponsorship, not just from Donegal businesses, but a few local businesses sponsored spot prizes too,” he said.
“We also had an auction. One of our committee members managed to get a Donegal jersey signed by all the players. And we had a band from Donegal, so we were singing and dancing into the wee small hours.”
The committee hope to have plenty more events in the future, thanks to the heightened interest, and Frank is hopeful that some of the Donegal footballers will even come down to some of those get-togethers.
“All the people who came last week have Westmeath partners or they have Donegal connections. People were meeting up with old friends or getting to meet new friends. There was a huge buzz afterwards,” he said.
“We have a huge Donegal Association in Dublin, but it’s nice to have something more rural and Mullingar is the perfect spot in the middle of the country. We now have interest from people in Cavan and other counties too. We’re all chuffed.”
He was eager to mention committee members, Joan Crawford, who was “so energetic” in the organisation of the event, as well as Charlie Dunleavy, an ex-garda stationed in the county from 1973.Eamon McGowan, who used to manage the Lake Country Hotel, was also given a special mention, as was Mark Breslin, who has great involvement in coaching St Loman’s underage teams. He said there was huge sponsorship from Stephen Kennedy of Hydro Engineering and Plumbing.
“They were all very much involved in the organisation of the event and we were delighted with the turnout,” he concluded.
Anyone interested in linking up with the association can search for Donegal Association Mullingar on Facebook.