Cream of the crop rises to the top at Mallow Sports and Leisure awards
THERE was a full house at Springfort Hall in Mallow for the Mallow and District Sports and Leisure Council awards on Saturday night.
Roisin Moriarty, vice chairperson of the organising committee, welcomed everyone to their 26th celebration of “all that is good” in the community of Mallow and she was exactly right.
It’s the third year that the awards have been opened up to Mallow’s surrounding areas – a move of which the committee is extremely proud of.
“As always, the organisations, both sporting and voluntary, have been very forthcoming with nominations for Mallow and we thank everyone most sincerely for taking the time to fill up nomination forms,” Ms Moriarty said and she congratulated everyone on their wonderful achievement on the night.
World Champion and Olympic bronze medallist Rob Heffernan was the guest of honour and the banter flew between him and the excellent MC, Kieran McSweeney.
Ms Moriarty thanked the sponsors, The Corkman and Cathal Lombard solicitors, stating that without them it would be impossible to hold such a busy event.
She also thanked the organising committee of Neil Sexton, Sean Leahy, Liam Ware, Bridie Murphy, Frances McCarthy, Joe Dowling, Chris Tanner and Cathal Lombard. On Saturday night, Liam Ware and Chris Tanner were both unwell and unable to attend. “We all miss them very much on this night,” she said.
Siobhan Murphy, Advertising and Marketing manager at The Corkman, said: “In a nutshell, what the awards honour is not just the community spirit in this region and the taxi-service which the moms and dads do in all weather conditions, but it also fosters continued growth of a community.”
“At The Corkman we want to sincerely thank you – our very local supporters over the years. You are important to us and our door will always be open to the people and organisations which have made Mallow what it is,” she said.
Cathal Lombard said he was delighted to be the co-sponsor of the awards. He said he was personally delighted to have a world champion such as Rob present on the night and thanked him for accepting the invitation.
Olympian Rob has notched up a huge amount of accolades in race walking at the highest level possible – and has won accolades in the form of a bronze medal at the European Championships in the 20km race in 2010, a bronze medal in the 50k race in the London Olympics and a gold medal in the 2013 World Athletics Championships.
Also on the night, Sinead O’Connor of AIB in Mallow who sponsored the Youth Sports Nominees, said she, along with her colleagues, were pleased to be among so many talented people. She congratulated
all and told them to “keep up the good work”.
On the night there were a host of winners, including the Hall of Fame award which went to Sean Ryan, while the Community Award winners went Sean Moylan Park Residents’ Association.