Charlestown Bord na n-Óg (the underage wing of the Charlestown Sarsfields G.A.A. Club ) held their annual Awards presentation in the CBD Sports Complex on Sunday March 1st. There was a super crowd of parents and players in attendance with Chairman Ryan O`Connor taking on the role of master of ceremonies and a fine job he did too as he and the committee got through a busy night of awards and presentations in brisk fashion. There were lots of awards handed out at the different age grades for both the boys and the girls as the club reflected on another very successful year on the fields of play. The club has lots of talent in its ranks at the moment and three of our finest young exponents, Paul Towey, Paddy Goldrick and Jack Mahon were the guests of honour so to speak as they presented the awards to the many winners which was a nice moment for the club and the recipients as these lads have been lighting up the playing fields in the last number of years in the green and white and red of green of Mayo with Towey the latest Sarsfields player to graduate onto the county senior panel. He follows a long line of decorated names who have lined out for Mayo at intercounty level and one hopes he can emulate the likes of Thomas Parsons, Aidan Higgins, John Casey and David Tiernan who served Mayo with distinction over the course of the last twenty five years and more. The following were the awards handed out in the boys categories from under-12 up to under 16 :
Under-12 Player of the Year : Michael McCarthy
Under -12 All Star : Mikey Giblin
Under- 13 Player of the Year : Paddy Joe Dunleavy
Under-13 All Star : Tadhg Horkan
Under-14 Player of the Year : Conor McArdle
Under-14 All Star : Owen Flannery
Under-15 Player of the Year : Daniel Harrington
Under-15 All Star : Alex Cullen
Under-16 Player of the Year : Oran Duffy
Under-16 All Star : Niall Fleming.
Chairman Ryan O`Connor praised and congratulated all the award winners and thanked the coaches for their dedication and commitment without which it wouldn`t be possible to field teams as they give of their time so selflessly and use their skills set to develop and improve the players through innovative and modern coaching sessions with all teams being exposed to the best in terms of coaching and skill development. Ryan also congratulated Paul Towey, Paddy Goldrick and Jack Mahon who featured for Mayo at under-20 level recently and also congratulated Jack Corley, Niall Fleming and Thomas Goldrick who represented Mayo at Under-16 level in 2019 in the Ted Webb Cup. The club look forward to these lads becoming the backbone of their respective Sarsfields teams for 2020 and they , by their exploits and talents are providing the inspiration for a generation of young Sarsfields footballers coming immediately behind them. There will be a full report in next week`s column of all the awards and presentations from the girl`s end of the club as they too had much to celebrate and enthuse over after a hectic and successful year in the main.