Longford Slashers ladies named Team of the Year as winners of 2022 Longford Leader Sports Star Awards revealed

The winners of the 2022 Longford Leader Sports Star Awards, in association with Longford Sports Partnership, have been announced.

Each of the winners will be presented with a memento in recognition of their achievement at a gala presentation function in the Longford Arms Hotel on Friday, December 2, 2022 at 8pm.

Each of the award recipients will also be in the running for the coveted title of Overall 2022 Longford Leader Sports Star of the Year and this will be revealed on the night of the gala presentation.

Tickets for the gala dinner and awards presentation on December 2 costing €35 each can be purchased from the Longford Leader office at Market Square, Longford N39 KN82 ; telephone 043 33 45241.

Congratulations to all the winners.

Derick Turner of Longford Rugby Club will be inducted into the Hall of Fame. In 1967 a young Derick Turner, along with a group of like-minded people, set about reforming Longford Rugby Club. And he has driven the development of the Club, both on and off the pitch over the past 55 years and continues to play an active role in day-to-day affairs as a member of the board and sitting on the development and fundraising committees.

The Team of the Year winners are the Longford Slashers Senior Ladies Football Team. This dedicated and talented team has won the last six County Championships that they have played in - Junior Champions in 2017, Intermediate Champions in 2018, Senior Champions in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022. And to enhance their reputation they also won the Leinster Intermediate title in 2022, defeating Skryne of Meath with a superb performance.

The Club Volunteer of the Year is Sean Dempsey of the Longford & District Schoolboy League. Along with people like Joe Williams RIP, Tom Cunningham, Ray Masterson and John Joe Brennan, Sean was one of the founders of the League back in 1990. John has worn many hats over the years, including PRO, Secretary, Fixture Secretary, SFAI delegate and he also had the honour of travelling abroad with several underage International teams. From writing match reports, making fixtures, updating league tables and attending meetings, Sean is one of the League’s most respected administrators.

During 2022, the Junior Sportsperson of the Year, John Fitzpatrick of Longford Athletics Club During 2022, has been unbeatable in Ireland for his age group in both the High Jump and Shot Put. He recorded a brilliant ‘double-double’ in winning All-Ireland gold in each event at both the indoor and outdoor championships. Multi-talented John has also excelled over cross-country including winning the Longford schools 3rd/4th class title in 2021 and was a member of the gold-medal winning Longford team at the Community Games National relay finals in October 2022.

Melview FC Football for All have been selected as the winners of the Sports Ability Award. Melview FC Football for All is the first of its kind in Longford offering football for children with disabilities and additional needs. Football for All now has a regular squad of 16 players from all over county Longford training once a week in St Mary’s sports campus and playing regular organised football against other clubs.

Ciara Dennigan (Equestrian) was a member of Team Ireland who won gold at the International Student Rider Nations Cub in show jumping, and individually 6th in the Dressage representing Team Ireland.

In mid-November, Fiona Gettings, Ladies Football / Athletics, represented Ireland at the British & Irish Masters Cross Country in Dublin. A 4th place finish in her age category, and second Irish finisher, helped Ireland achieve silver medals in the team standings. Also a very accomplished footballer, Fiona won an All-Ireland Junior title with Longford as a teenager and in 2021, she played a pivotal role in helping Ballymore Ladies win the Leinster Junior title.

Outstanding Longford athlete Darragh Greene made it through to the semi-finals in both the 100m and 200m Breaststroke events at the European Championships in Rome in August in what was a major achievement. Greene, swimming in his first international meet since making his Olympics debut in Tokyo last year, is one of Ireland’s elite sport stars and continues to do Longford proud in his pool performances on the world stage.

2022 was a glorious year for Jack Macken and his club Colmcille, winners of the Longford senior football championship title for the first time in 14 years. Lining out at midfield, 20-year-old Macken had the proud honour of lifting the coveted Connolly Cup following the dramatic last gasp win over the title holders Mullinalaghta in the county final. And to cap a truly memorable day for the rising young star, the Colmcille captain Macken was selected as the man-of-the-match award winner as he also stepped up to collect the prestigious Fr McGee trophy.

In July 2021, Cian McPhillips truly announced himself on the international stage when winning gold in the 1500 metres at the European Under-20 Championships in Estonia. The following week, he set an Irish Under-20 record for the 1500m in running 3:40.56 to take more than two seconds off the previous record held by Ray Flynn for 45 years.

A member of Longford Rudiarius Boxing club, Destiny Ogedengbe, was recently crowned National 85Kg Champion. A fiercely dedicated sportsman, Destiny has been training very hard for the last number of years and his efforts have been rewarded with All-Ireland glory.

Women’s soccer is on the rise in this country and Longford’s Melissa O’Kane is among the most exciting talents to emerge. Melissa and her Athlone Town team mates recently faced Shelbourne in the EVOKE.ie FAI Women's Cup and the 18-year-old Ardagh native is also a member of the Ireland U19 squad.

Jakub Pasieczny is a very talented basketball player with Longford Phoenix and he has also lined out with the Basketball Ireland U18 Men’s National Team. Jakub is a sixth year student at St Mel’s College Longford. He has been selected for the second consecutive year to the BI National U18 Men's Team and is looking forward to represent Ireland in 2023 in International Basketball Championships in Portugal.

This year has been a breakthrough one for Yemi Talabi (Longford Athletics Club) as she enjoyed a superb Collegiate track season at the University of Texas Arlington. In the UTA colours, she set personal bests of a swift 11.44 seconds for 100m and 23.82 for 200m. The 100m time places Yemi as the seventh fastest Irish woman ever and the second fastest time by an Irish woman in 2022. Her fantastic form Stateside saw her selected for the Irish women’s 4 x 100m relay team that competed at the World Championships in Oregon last July which was a fantastic experience for 19-year-old Yemi.

Talented young swimmer Ashley Weafer won gold this year (2022) in the National Community Games swimming finals for the 50m freestyle U14 age category. He also won a Gold in the 100m freestyle, silver in the 200m freestyle and bronze in the 400m freestyle events in the 13-14 age category at the Irish National Summer championships 2022 held in the National Aquatic Centre, Dublin this summer.