Alanna Corroon scoops All-Ireland Scór na nÓg title for The Downs

The country’s finest young dancers, singers, storytellers, actors, musicians and quiz-minds gathered at the Hillgrove Hotel in Monaghan on Saturday January 25 to compete in the annual Scór na nÓg All-Ireland final.

Westmeath GAA were in the unique position of having more finalists than any other county on the day, in solo singing, recitation, ballad group, tráth na gceist, novelty act, instrumental music and set dancing.

Bláthnaid Daly from the Ballycomoyle GAA club had the honour of hosting the day’s proceedings, taking on the role of Bean an Tí. Bláthnaid did an excellent job throughout the evening and kept the packed clár moving swiftly.

Having secured second place in the Leinster final of the Tráth na gCeist, The Downs GAA club were among the 12 clubs competing in the All-Ireland question time quiz. With several good performances under their belts, the bright minded team of four breezed through the numerous rounds of questions but finished just outside the top three on the day.

First to take the stage on Saturday afternoon was Darragh McCabe from Mullingar Shamrocks GAA. He brilliantly sang ‘Only Our River Runs Free’ as he hoped to claim the All-Ireland solo singing title that was last won by his club mate Katie McCarthy in 2007. Although making his debut on the big stage, Darragh had everyone enthralled in his singing. It wasn’t to be for the young Mullingar singer on this occasion, however, as the title was awarded to the singer from Ulster.

Alanna Corroon was hoping to go one step further this year in the recitation/storytelling competition after she narrowly missed out on the title last year.

Reciting ‘The Child I Did Not Know’, Alanna took that step further as her impressive acting ability and delivery won over the minds of the moltóirí and she deservedly claimed the All-Ireland title. Alanna became the first Scór na nÓg All-Ireland champion since Moate ballad group in 2020.

All in Scór Iarmhí wish to congratulate Alanna on this huge achievement.

No strangers to the ballad group category are Moate All Whites, having already claimed a number of national titles over the years. This year’s young group, Hannah Higgins, Katie Creggy, Emma Keane, Hannah Martin and Cory Browne, went in hunt of bringing back their first Celtic cross medals to the already well decorated cabinet in the club. Their distinctive melody and harmony combination took centre stage in their fabulous rendition of the songs ‘Ireland’ and ‘Nature’s Little Symphony’.

In what was a close competition, the reigning champions Glenflesk from Kerry took the spoils.

Like Moate, The Downs have a long standing tradition in the novelty act category and this year’s group hoped to add to the history books. Their act ‘The High Five Code’ had the audience in stitches with their hilarious sketch of craic agus ceol. They too came up against stiff competition and were pipped at the post by the group from Fermanagh.

Making their All-Ireland debut were the Bunbrosna instrumental group of Beibhín Nic Gabhainn, Anna Dunleavy and Aoife Dunleavy. Their lively selection of a jig and reel had toes tapping around the Hillgrove hotel ballroom. After a high standard competition, they were well in the mix to take home the honours but unfortunately the decision didn’t go their way, as the tribesmen of Galway were awarded the title.

Closing out the final were the black and amber clad set dancers from The Downs. They danced two excellent figures of the ‘Plain Set’. The rousing footwork from the proud Scór club brought a perfect end to the representation from the Westmeath contingent. Although The Downs put in a great performance, it was king pins Spa of Kerry who took home a third All-Ireland title in a row at the expense of the Westmeath club.

It was a proud day for all involved in Westmeath Scór to have the largest representation from the county competing in an All-Ireland for many years. It was a huge achievement for Alanna Corroon of The Downs, who claimed glory in the recitation/storytelling. It wasn’t to be for the other Westmeath representatives but we have no doubt that we will see them on the All-Ireland stage in the future.

You can watch all the performances on Trad TG4 YouTube page.