Casey and Tye …

It’s was quite the week for Casey and Tye that ended on Saturday night with a fantastic performance of the Charleston on  the big stage of the Mullingar Park Hotel. Tye’s week began with a hat-trick of goals against Milltownpass in the ACL Div. 5 match and he followed this on Tuesday evening with an outrageous winning point against Tyrrellspass in the ACL Div. 1 match. There was also the little matter of two or three examinations in DIT to deal with during the week but Tye did say ‘I wouldn’t worry about them’ when he was asked to dance. Typical of Tye he said yes without hesitation provided he could fit in the practice around his football training, but he did warn us that his dancing was limited to a few sessions in Copperface Jacks. This was typical of Tye as he has always volunteered his services for Mullingar Shamrocks from acting as referee in under-age matches, to lending a hand at coaching etc.

Casey was also busy with Mullingar Shamrocks during the week and she lined out twice for our senior Ladies Gaelic Football team that had two great victories against Garrycastle and The Downs. There was even a few tears shed in the dugout on Friday night when Casey had to leave the field with a rib injury but Casey is made of tough stuff and the little matter of a rib injury wasn’t going to stop her from performing brilliantly on Saturday night. Like Tye, Casey was a Strictly Shamrocks volunteer from the start and has been involved in dancing from a young age.

On Saturday night Casey and Tye were superb in their Charleston to the music of Cabaret.

The Adamson-Garry and the McDermott families have a long association with Mullingar Shamrocks; the club is fortunate to have two superb role models in Casey and Tye and such wonderful ambassadors for the club and its activities.  

The Dancers …

We promised more than a fundraiser and that was exactly what we delivered as Strictly Shamrocks provided a spectacular night of quality entertainment with brilliant dancing from all fourteen combinations. While Casey McDermott and Tye Adamson, were the worthiest of winners they just edged out Shannon Daly and Gerry Mulligan; Helen Hassett and Ray Purcell finished in third place with Ciara Maguire and Tom Moore in fourth place.

However, the extravaganza would not have been possible without the superb performances of the other dancers. We thank Jordana and Pearse, Marie and Aidan (what a performance!), Niamh and Padraic; Emer and Peter; Anna and Shane; Sandra and Robbie; Claire and Killian; Niamh and Ross; Kyle and Sandra and Matthew and Jemma.

In addition to their eight-week long dedication to perfecting their dance routines they also engaged in some serious fundraising along the way that made Strictly Shamrocks an outstanding financial success. Many dancers organised their own events beginning with Marie Kiernan’s Hamper Raffle in Buckley’s SuperValu and ending with a night of high culture organised by Helen Hassett with the Choral Group of the Mullingar Variety Group topped-up with prosecco and pringles.

THANKS TO ALL

 The Femce ..

Events such as Strictly Shamrocks would be impossible to hold without the support of generous sponsors and Mullingar Shamrocks were particularly fortunate to secure The Fence as our main event sponsor. Deccie Murphy and his staff were superb hosts for our Strictly Shamrocks launch and for the post-event party on Sunday evening. The Fence proprietors were also ETREMELY generous with their financial backing of the event. So, friends and members of Mullingar Shamrocks when you are looking for a venue for that special night out, don’t forget to consider The Fence.

O'Brien's Hyundai ...

O'Brien's Hyundai also provided generous financial backing for Strictly Shamrocks and we thank them for their benevolence.
The company also provided one weeks free motoring for Casey and Tye. Included with the cups and trophies awarded on the night was the option of a week's motoring in the All-New Kona by Hyundai or a week swanning in the All-New i30 Fastback by Hyundai. Enjoy!

To All Our Sponsors ...

The Mullingar Shamrocks Club would like to thank all our sponsors who helped to make Striclty Shamrocks an outstanding social, entertainment and financial success. Over 160 individuals, companies and business premises gave a vote of confidence in the work of Mullingar Shamrocks by providing financial support for our Strctly Shamrocks fundraiser ...

Liveta for the Phoenix Park & Antoinette for Gweedore

The two main prizes in our Super Draw on Saturday night were Liveta Lazauskaite who was the winner of the two tickets to the Ed Sheeran, Phoenix Park concert at the weekend; Antoinette Hegarty was the winner of the superb weekend for two people in the magnificent Gweedore Court Hotel with breakfast and evening meals as a bonus. Seán Ó Baoill from Ardara, County Donegal was the winner of the €100 prize for predicting the correct score in the Galway-Mayo Connacht championship match. They still know their football in Donegal and there are no prizes for guessing who sold that winning line.

Organising Committee …

It is essential that the contribution of the Organising Committee to Strictly Shamrocks is acknowledged. The members of the committee invested hours of unseen work behind the scenes in ensuring that the event landed on the stage in the Mullingar Park Hotel in top class condition. In between the daily input, weekly and twice weekly meetings were held to confirm the logistics. It was a massive undertaking and apart from a few veterans of the Shamrocks scene many of the committee members were engaged in their first serious Shamrocks fundraising effort and this made the success that extra bit special. Without this injection of new blood there is no future. Roisin Masterson looked after the dancers and several other matters with her customary first class attention to detail. Roisin and Ritchie Daly were the lead organisers with Ritchie chiefly responsible for getting the event booklet to the printers on time and that was not easy. Andrina Finch, Karen Hegarty, Lisa Burke, Sean Hynes, Tom Hunt and Maria Carroll (who was responsible for all the finances) also shared the responsibility for the event. In the last two weeks the organisational skills of  Pat Collins was added to the mix. Albert Reynolds, as Taoiseach. once said that in politics it was the little things that trip you up … on this occasion the task of untangling the balloons was almost one task too many.

They also served … 

The numbers of helpers who made themselves available on Saturday night and in helping with the many fundraising events beforehand was exceptional and heartening; a lot of new organisaional talent was identified. We had signage movers, ticket sellers, vote sellers, door keepers, raffle organisers  etc,the young and the not-so-young, volunteered their services from all sections of the club. The music of Cian and Craig (Thanks Lads) at the point of entry added a touch of class to the occasion as did the superbly decorated entrance. Mugsy despite performing heroics on the dance stage with Marie volunteered his DJ expertise (Thanks, Mugsy) for the after-event party, one of the great one’s in quite a distinguished list of Shamrocks parties.

The Final Thanks …

Where there is subjective competition there has to be judges and Mullingar Shamrocks were fortunate to have three excellent, impartial and knowledgeable judges in Tina, Sean and Jane.

From the outset the organising committee opted for a professional event organiser and our choice of Fundraising Events Group as the production team was justified by the spectacular show delivered. We thank Keith and his fellow professionals including lead-choreographers Audrey and Victoria who worked so hard with the dancers to perfect their steps and routines.

 Jan Lynsey’s fine-tuning was much appreciated by the dancers and her input was significant to the show presented on the night.

On occasions such as this the local and traditional media tends to get overlooked; the Westmeath Examiner and the Westmeath Topic were more than generous in the coverage of Strictly Shamrocks as well as the launch of the event. The photographs carried on the front page of this week’s Westmeath Topic and in the Westmeath Examiner’s Life section are a credit to the professionals involved (and to the Mullingar Shamrocks stylist who designed the dress code!). The Hogan Stand website was also supportive to Shamrocks. Thanks to Damien, Randall, John and the two Pauls.

Thanks also to the staff and management of the Mullingar Park Hotel … the ideal venue for in so many ways for staging an event such as Strictly Shamrocks.

And finally, for now, a very special thanks to the Principal, Jane Brady and the Board of Management of St Colmcille’s National School, Gainstown for granting Mullingar Shamrocks permission to use the gymnasium and facilities of the school for dancing practice sessions. In another life, a common interview question was how does a person know he or she is in a good school on a visit?  The answer I now know. It is Gainstown School. From the moment you enter the gate and pass by the miniature garden you know you are in a special place. This is before you become aware of the outdoor classroom in a woodland setting.  This is an establishment that has education and learning pouring from  every square metre of its building.  Being there was an education.