Finals generate great excitement

Westmeath Community Games

Westmeath Community Games are now up and running for 2025 and we have had another action-packed weekend of sport.

Following three days of Indoor soccer, the four County finalists were finally decided on Sunday March 18th last. With 32 teams commencing this competition in early February, 27 games later with Richard Fagan refereeing all, and ably assisted by his score keeper Cian, four teams will now go forward to represent Westmeath in Indoor Soccer at the Leinster Finals. Under 10 Girls - STREAMSTOWN-HORSELEAP, Under 10 Boys - MULLINGAR -DUBLIN ROAD SOUTH, Under 13 Girls - CASTLEDALY, and Under 13 Boys - KILPATRICK.

Futsal is a variation of Indoor soccer and this year again, Anthony Monaghan from Athlone-East co-ordinated the event. With Venues in both the Marist College in Athlone and Moath Community Hall, 14 teams battled for County honours across the four events . Saturday afternoon March 22nd saw the finals being contested in Moate and after some very tight and exciting games played in a competitive and sporting manner, we finally got to see who our county representatives will be.

In the Under 13 Girls final ATHLONE-EAST defeated DRUMRANEY-TANG in the final. The under 13 Boys final was between Athlone-East and Drumraney-Tang and DRUMRANEY-TANG got the better of Athlone-East in that final. Gainstown-Milltownpass will be our representatives in Girls under fifteen after getting the better of Drumraney-Tang and in Boys under 15 our county representatives will be Athlone-East

Just down the road from Moate Community Hall, the MOATE under 13 Girls team were celebrating after winning the Rugby X7’s competition. Our representative in the National event in 2024 was Multyfarnham and they went on to win the national title so let us hope the MOATE girls’ team can go on and win similar honours this year. There will be a tough Leinster championship to negotiate first.

Over in Milltown Gaa Club and Community Centre on Saturday night it was the Table Tennis Westmeath Community Games finals that were centre stage. Emer Mulvaney does a fantastic job for Community Games as County Assistant Secretary and in managing the Badminton and Table Tennis competitions over the last few years. Emer and Milltown-Emper-Moyvore have also hosted the Leinster finals of the Badminton last year and will also host for 2025. Leinster executives are always delighted when they can share some events and are grateful for the efforts of Emer and her team for managing the Leinster finals. This weekend it was the turn of Table Tennis and after some very entertaining games the teams going forward to the Leinster Championships are Under 13 Girls… MilltownEmper-Moyvore. Under 13 Boys will be Rochfortbridge and in Under 16 Girls we will be represented by Milltown-Emper-Moyvore. Thank you to all the volunteers on the night that facilitated the running of the games and for providing some much-appreciated teas and treats to all the attending parents. Well done to all and good luck in the Leinster’s.

Draughts is Westmeath has always been a strong event for us when we get to the National stage. The Downs and their wonderful co-ordinator Anne-Marie Corroon took on the task again this year of managing this large event. Preliminary games have been played over the last few weeks and Sunday March 23rd saw twenty-eight teams descend on The Downs GAA Clubhouse for a fantastic afternoon of Draughts. Each area provided table referees and finally after 6 hours of Draughts, our county representatives were unveiled. Ballynacarrigy-Sonna who were on the podium at last year’s national finals won three of the four titles on offer on the day. Under 16 Mixed - The Downs. Under 14 mixed Ballynacarrigy-Sonna, Under 12 mixed Ballynacarrigy-Sonna and Under 10 mixed Ballynacarrigy-Sonna. Thank you to The Downs volunteers for providing the wide range of treats with teas and coffees for parents and volunteers alike.

Some other County Finals in the coming days are U13 Boys RugbyX7’s where Kilpatrick will host Moate on Saturday 29th.

The County final of Basketball U16 Boys between Castlepollard-Finea and Streete -Rathowen will be held before Sunday March 30th.

Other notable dates on the horizon are County Quiz which will be held in the Carmelite Centre in Moate on Sunday April 6th and closing of registration will be April 2nd.

Gymnastics will be held in Athlone on April 7th and closing of registration will be March 30th.

Handball will be held in Mullingar on April 12th and registration will close on April 5th.

Cross Country, Mixed Distance relays and Marathon are County Representative teams in Community games and Ciara Dillon and her crew from M.D.R.S. (Mullingar-Dublin Road South) have kindly volunteered to manage this event .Trials will be held at Mullingar Harriers Athletics Grounds on Saturday April 12th at 5pm for U12 ,U13 and U14 Cross Country and Mixed Distance Relays where teams of 6 will be selected in the U12 and U14 category and if numbers allow a 10 person (mixed 5 girls and 5 boys) will be selected to represent Westmeath in the 1200m Cross Country race at U13 age. The Marathon is U16 and a separate race for boys and Girls with the first three running for the Westmeath team at the National finals in Gormanstown on Sunday May 25th.

County Swimming finals will be held in Athlone RSC on Saturday April 19th.

County Track and Field finals will be held in Mullingar Harriers grounds on Sunday May 18th.

Art and Culture finals will take place in Multyfarnham on Saturday June 7th and registration for all these events will close on May 27th. Registration is currently open for Hurling, Camogie, Gaelic Football ,Tag Rugby, Outdoor Soccer and 7 Aside Soccer and will close on April 5th with the open draw taking place in our community games Hall on April 6th.There is a revised date for all these events to be played and that is now JUNE 8th.

We are still waiting to set a date for Pitch and Putt and Long Puck, and these events will be held in June before June 30th.We are still looking for a suitable venue to host Cycling on Grass and if we find a venue it must be complete by Sunday April 27th.

Thank you again to our Chairperson Emily Wallace and Secretary Sean Liston for enabling Westmeath Community games to thrive and grow in Westmeath. Best wishes to all our County finalist as they go forward to represent Westmeath in Regionals in the coming weeks.