Longford athletes to benefit from new North Midlands Credit Union Elite Sports Fund

Two county Longford athletes will benefit from a new Elite Sports Fund set up by North Midlands Credit Union.

Swimmer Darragh Greene and racewalker Oisin Lane are two of four young sports people from the North Westmeath/Longford area who will benefit, with the other two being Cormac Dalton (Mullingar) and Eoin Quinn (Delvin).

The Board of North Midlands Credit Union has decided to develop a limited special fund with the aim of helping young sports people who have achieved notable success in their career to date and have ambitions to excel (probably to international level) in their chosen sport.

The fund is limited to €10,000 for their financial year 2023/24 which goes to the end of September 2024.

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Newtownforbes man Darragh Greene is currently preparing for the upcoming Paris Olympics.

Darragh has represented Ireland in swimming at every major competition, from European Championships all the way to the Olympic games in Tokyo in 2020.

The National Record holder in the 50m, 100m and 200m Breaststroke, Darragh was also a World Championships finalist in 2024 and semi-finalist in 2018/2019.

He is also the first Irish swimmer to break 60 seconds for 100m Breaststroke.

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Oisin Lane is a 22 year old from Ballymahon. Studying Psychology at the University of Limerick, Oisin competes in Race Walking – more specifically 20K race walking.

His short term goals include winning more National Seniors and making it to the World Championships in Tokyo next year. Oisin’s long term goal is to make it to the Olympics and perform well.

His achievements to date include, Qualifying for the 2024 European Seniors, Finishing 4th in the European Youth Olympics, National Seniors 10K Champion 2024 and National Juvenile titles and U23 titles.

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The Board of North Midlands Credit Union hopes that the new Elite Sports Fund will be successful in helping these young sports people achieve their potential and that the fund will be extended on an annual basis.

The fund is available to sports people across the full range of sporting activities and will be targeted at people who are not already highly supported financially by other bodies or sponsors.

While the fund is still in an early stage of development, the credit union is working with sporting organizations to ensure that all awards are given strictly on merit and that the application and decision-making process can be seen as fair and transparent.

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