Congratulations to all the young sports men and women from Clane and Rathcoffey that represented Kildare at the the recent National Community Games finals.

Our 12 local swimmers had a very successful weekend at the National Community Games finals. While a number of the boys had a tough draw this year in the heats, they achieved excellent success with Matthew Walsh-Hussey receiving a Bronze medal in the boys U-8 freestyle and Enda O’Connell receiving a 4th place bronze medal in the boys u-14 freestyle. The remainder of the team performed well with Eoghan Maguire reaching the semi-finals and Peter Doyle swimming strongly in his heat. A very young boys relay team – age 13 – performed exceptionally in the u-16 relay as they reached the semi-final. We expect great things from this team in the coming years.

On Sunday, the girls team also performed very well in their respective heats with Aine Maguire reaching the u-8 semi-finals; and Claire Delaney, Zoe Mason and Eimear O’Connell both coming 4th in very tough heats. The girls u-16 relay team performed very well by winning their semi-finals, only to be subsequently disqualified on a technical infringement – a very disappointing result to an excellent team performance by the girls.

A great exciting weekend with some excellent swimming by all competitors.

Thank you to the Westgrove Hotel whom facilitated training sessions for the squad over the summer. A very special Thank You to coach Paul McLoughlin for all his experience, time, energy, enthusiasm and most of all fun.

Swimming team preparing for the finals with coach Paul McLoughlin in the Westgrove Hotel

In the Gaelic football events our boys made it all the way to the All Ireland final and picked up silver medals, losing out to Carrick-on-Shannon in the end. our under-12 girls also made it all the way to the medals, being awarded bronze after winning their play off.

Well done to everyone who participated in the games, and a big thank you to all those who helped make it possible. The coaches, the organisers, the parents:  everyone who supported Clane Community Games 2011.