April 28 2007 saw two Westmeath acts - Mary O'Donovan from Mullingar Shamrocks and the Moate All-Whites Ballad Group - crowned All-Ireland Scor champions. The Shamrocks Novelty Act and Bunbrosna Set Dancers also gave a wonderful account of themselves on a night to savour for Westmeath Scor. There have been many great occasions for Westmeath Scor down the years, but none compared to April 28 last in the INEC, Killarney when, for the first time ever, two acts from the county captured All-Ireland titles. In 1978, Bunbrosna's Christy Duffy became the Lake County's first All-Ireland Scor champion. Since then, Westmeath had produced a long list of All-Ireland winners in Scor Sinsear and Scor na nOg, but never before had the county managed to win two All-Ireland titles on the same night. 2007 will go down in history as Westmeath Scor's most successful year to date. In February, young Katie McCarthy from Mullingar Shamrocks was crowned All-Ireland Scor na nOg Solo Singing champion. That was just a taste of things to come as Katie's club colleague Mary O'Donovan and the Moate Ballad Group pulled off a magnificent All-Ireland double in Killarney to complete a fairytale year for the cultural arm of Westmeath GAA. The All-Ireland finals were far removed from the minds of the many contestants who descended on The Downs GAA Centre for the county finals at the end of February. Eight titles were up for grabs, with Mullingar Shamrocks, Moate All-Whites, St. Joseph's and Bunbrosna sharing the honours between them. The first discipline of the night was Figure Dancing with Mullingar Shamrocks putting their long-held title on the line against The Downs, Bunbrosna, Ballymore and St. Joseph's. The question on everyone's lips was: 'Could Shamrocks win a remarkable 11th county title on the trot?' and the answer was a very definite 'yes'. Their group comprised Geraldine Cornally, Mary Doolin, Una Fagan, Janette McClellan, Deirdre Clarke, Mary Jo Geraghty, Sinead Brogan and Aisling Carey. In the Solo Singing category, Moate All-Whites' Edel Martin returned after a lengthy absence to regain the title and end Jenny McNamee's hopes of winning for the third year running. Ballymore native Edel was no stranger to the winners' enclosure, having won numerous county and Leinster titles in the past, and her performance was adjudged to be better than that of The Downs' reigning Leinster champion. Edel also saw off strong competitors in Eddie Byrne (Milltown), Mark Irwin (Mullingar Shamrocks) and Anne-Marie Farrell (Castledaly). The Instrumental Music title went to Ballymore, who gave a great performance to knock Bunbrosna off their perch. The third act to take part was Crookedwood, who had the popular Bert McCabe on board. The winners were represented by the Keena brothers, Padraig and Thomas, Bernie Boland, Liz Maguire and Stephanie McKnight. A vintage performance from Mary Hughes saw the Mullingar Shamrocks lady retain her Recitation/Storytelling crown. Mary saw off stiff competition from former All-Ireland champion Christy Duffy, Ballycomoyle's Catherine Daly, who won this title on many occasions in the past, Raphael O'Brien from Rosemount and St. Joseph's Hugo Slevin, who won this discipline at junior level a few years ago. Moate All-Whites made it a three-in-a-row of Ballad Group title wins, depriving acts from Ballymore, The Downs, Bunbrosna and Ballycomoyle in the process. The Moate group was made up of Edel Martin, Louise Heavin, Una Walsh, Tina Gillivan and Ronnie Minnock, and like Mary O'Donovan, bigger things would follow for them. Ten years after they won their first county title, the St. Joseph's trio of Aidan Walsh, Dick Stokes and Johnny Hannify continued their phenomenal run in Question Time. Over the past decade, the quiz specialists have won seven county titles, four Leinsters and one All-Ireland. Their latest county title success was achieved at the expense of The Downs, Milltown, Rosemount, Moate All-Whites and Mullingar Shamrocks. Six clubs battled it out for the Novelty Act title and there was a surprise in store with Mullingar Shamrocks - represented by Mary Hughes, Mary Irwin, Bernie McHugh, Alan Conroy, Paul Doolin, Martin Coyne and Stephen Ennis - dethroning the holders Castletown-Geoghegan. The other acts to take part were Bunbrosna, Moate All-Whites, The Downs and Rosemount. The Set Dancing competition, which was the final one of the night, saw former All-Ireland champions Bunbrosna regain the title at the expense of Leinster kingpins The Downs. Crookedwood, Castletown-Geoghegan and St. Joseph's, who were competing in this discipline for the first time, also took part, but represented by Susan and Sandra Eades, Veronica Seery, Sheila Foley, Kenny Murphy, Christopher McCormack, Bobbie Wilson and Seamus Moran, Bun performed superbly to get the nod of the adjudicators. There was further joy for Mullingar Shamrocks when they were crowned Club of the Year. In previous years, members of the Westmeath Scor committee selected the winning club, but in 2007 it was decided on a points system. Detty Cornally and Patsy Rylands accepted the prestigious Eugene Doherty Memorial Cup from Carmel Doherty on behalf of Scor's most successful urban-based club. The eight winners competed in the Leinster semi-finals which took place in the Ballymore Community Centre one week later. It is a measure of how high standards are in the county that all eight acts qualified for the Leinster final. Hundreds of Westmeath Scor enthusiasts made the long journey to the Taghmon-Camross GAA Centre in Co. Wexford for the provincial finals on March 24. As it transpired, four of the Westmeath acts were successful with Mary Hughes claiming the Recitation title, Bunbrosna winning the Set Dancing title, Mullingar Shamrocks triumphing in the Novelty Act and Moate All-Whites finally getting their hands on the Ballad Group crown. A large Westmeath contingent also travelled to Killarney for what proved to be an unforgettable occasion for the county. There was only one county with more acts than Westmeath and that was Leitrim. All four Lake County acts gave the performance of their lives, and at the end of it all, Mary Hughes and the Moate Ballad Group were crowned All-Ireland champions. Mary was the first Westmeath competitor to go on stage and was bidding to make up for the disappointment of losing the 1992 All-Ireland decider to Limerick's Ellis Casey. Mary had to be at her best as one of her opponents was 2006 winner Michael McGibney of Cornafean, Co. Cavan and in fairness to Michael he was the first person to congratulate her after her long overdue success. Having finally made it to the big stage, the Moate Ballad Group were determined not to slip up and their massive support undoubtedly lifted them to new heights as they got the better of Omagh, St. Enda's (Tyrone), Newport (Tipperary) and St. Dominic's (Roscommon) to land the All-Ireland title. The triumphant Moate quintet was quick to pay tribute to their trainer Kevin Carroll and Tommy Heavin - the man who revived Scor in the south Westmeath town - after their historic win. For the Mullingar Shamrocks Novelty Act and the Bunbrosna Set Dancers, there was disappointment but no doubt they will return in 2008 to make an even bigger push for the top prize. Incidentally, Moate's success in the Ballad Group means that Westmeath has now won All-Ireland titles in six out of the eight Scor disciplines. The two disciplines they have yet to conquer at All-Ireland level are Figure Dancing and Novelty Act. Tweet

Most Read Stories