Longford Swimming Club

Connacht Minor Schools Championships
There was a large representation of club members at this event, which is a very important competition for our younger members. The results achieved on the day are a great testament to the hard work and effort being put in by our coaches and swimmers. As a result of this dedication, many of the local primary schools will have representation at the All-Ireland minor schools swimming championships.
The day was particularly successful for the boys, with a total of 10 boys qualifying for the All-Ireland finals. Duileach & Seadhna Ryan of Lanesborough will have enjoyed their results, with Seadhna winning gold in both the u-10 butterfly & breaststroke and Duileach winning silver in the u9 butterfly and also qualifying for the All-Ireland finals in the freestyle. Mark O’Boyle of Melview deserves to be thrilled with his achievement of winning gold in the u-11 butterfly and silver in the backstroke. Christopher Faherty, who is also a student in Melview recorded a superb time to win bronze in the u-9 butterfly.
Aaron O’Connor and Michael McCann, both of whom attend Newtownforbes school, had a very successful gala, with Aaron winning silver in the u-12 breaststroke and qualifying for the butterfly All Ireland finals. Michael won bronze in the u-11 backstroke and both Michael & Aaron were members of the successful relay team, along with Aodhain O’Ceallaigh & Cian Belton, who won bronze in the medley. Further success for the O’Connor family came in the form of Elliot achieving qualification for the All-Ireland finals in the u-9 breaststroke.

There were 3 further qualifiers for the All-Ireland finals among the boys. Ronan Kenny of Scoil Eimear was pipped for bronze by a split second in the u-11 breaststroke, earning qualification for the All-Irelands. Tadhg McNevin of Stonepark turned in a superb performance in the u-11 freestyle to achieve qualification. Harry Stewart of Emper NS recorded a superb time to qualify for the All-Ireland finals in the u-12 freestyle.
The girls swam some extremely competitive races to achieve medal winning and qualifying times on the day. Aine & Sinead McWeeney, who attend school in Melview had a fantastic competition, with Aine winning gold in the u-9 butterfly and qualifying in the breaststroke also. Sinead won bronze in the u-12 backstroke and also qualified in the IM. In addition, Kate Sweeney, who is also a student in Melview, qualified for the All-Ireland finals in the U-11 butterfly.
Another swimmer who can be extremely proud of her performances on the day is Aoife O’Brien, who is a student of Gaelscoil Longfoirt. Aoife showed the results of her hard work in the training pool, winning a silver medal in the u-12 breaststroke and also qualifying for the All-Ireland finals in the IM. Another pupil of the Gaelscoil to qualify for the All-Irelands was Orla Nevin, who turned in a superb performance in the u-11 butterfly. Elizabeth O’Boyle, who is a student in Whitehall NS, swam brilliantly to achieve qualification in the U-10 backstroke.
Further swimmers who swam very well at the event and were unlucky to miss out on qualification were Luke Donnelly, Grace Connellan and Ruth Keenan (Melview), Ellen Shannon (Colehill NS), Alaidh Ni Mhuiri, Eadaoin Murtagh and Eimear Branigan (Gaelscoil) and Eve Nerney (Stonepark).
This event is a very prestigious competition and the performance of the entire representation from the club shows the level that our young swimmers are swimming at. It is gratifying to see how strong we can compete at provincial and national level in a very competitive sport that demands so much from its athletes.