Longford locals blown away by all the talent in the county at this years Fleadh

Fleadh Cheoil Longford took place last weekend in Granard, taking over the town with the sounds of fiddles, tin whistles and banjos.

The launch of the highly anticipated weekend took place in Granard Library on Friday. Organiser Mairead Farrell introduced the rundown of events and welcomed the attendees as well as the performers who set the weekend off with a bang.

Figure dancing, a céili band and a céili drum performance left the audience very excited to see what the rest of Longford Fleadh had to offer.

Longford Westmeath TD Micheál Carrigy stopped by to launch the event.

“We have a great tradition here in Longford of traditional music, the Fleadh has always been a successful event whether it’s held in Longford, Edgeworthstown or Granard.

“We’ve got very strong branches, but that's down to the commitment that's there from parents and the volunteers that work in those branches to make sure to keep the tradition alive, and I think that's extremely important, that we keep our traditional dance, our traditional language, our traditional music alive.”

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Mairead, the organiser was over the moon with the festivities throughout the weekend, it’s been non-stop for her and the committee over the past few weeks, they’re all looking forward to a welcome break.

“I think it was a fantastically run event,” said Mairead, “In total out of all the competitions the adjudicators would have adjudicated over 440 people.

“So we definitely, year on year seem to be progressing with our numbers, with all the kids there and adults that are competing, which is great to see. It's come from strength to strength.

“We had a great range of instruments.

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“You know, your usual fiddle, banjo, accordion, but also illum pipes was one of the first years in a long time that we had illum pipes and harp singing, and harp playing while singing.”

One thing Mairead highlighted was the work that goes on behind the scenes of events like this.

“So everybody's fully involved and within John Dungan in particular, it is a very, very strong committee we are all like a family.

“It's a very, very close-knit group and we were always looking for more families and parents and kids and grandparents to get involved.

“And probably that's probably credit too as to why it ran so well in Granard, not only just our strong committee, but it was also a community effort.”

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Councillor Turlough McGovern was also a part of the launch event and like most of the county was very excited for it to come around once again.

“It’s brilliant to have it back here in Granard.

“We kicked it off today below in Cnoc Mhuire and as Mairead says it’s 480 participants taking part all over the weekend, it’s fantastic.”