Published: Friday, 20th August, 2010 4:17pm

St Colmcille's Pipe Band in world's top ten

Members of St Colmcille's Pipe Band, Tullamore pictured at the World Pipe Band Championships in Glasgow.

St Colmcille's Pipe Band, Tullamore, made a memorable debut appearance at the World Pipe Band Championships in Glasgow last weekend, securing a top ten finish in their grade.

The band was competing in Grade 4B, arguably the most competitive at the prestigious event given the huge entry of 60 bands. The grade was divided into three qualifying heats of 20 bands each, from which four would qualify for the final. St Colmcille's crossed the line at 11.06am on Saturday morning for their opening performance of the day and produced a polished set to finish comfortably inside the top four, thereby qualifying for the final 12. There were scenes of jubilation among the band members and travelling support when the result was revealed, though they quickly knuckled down to prepare for the final having been drawn to play again that afternoon.

With prizes on offer for the top six in the final Tullamore were quietly confident of carrying off some silverware and while the performance in the final was arguably better than in the qualifier, they had to be satisfied with 10th place overall in what was a tight finish. Indeed, St Colmcille's was only a handful of points away from securing a coveted top six finish. The grade was won by Upper Crossgare from Northern Ireland who have been in formidable form all year and seemed certain to be promoted to Grade 4A for 2011.

The achievement of the day went to the drum corps though, which was placed fifth. A sizeable chunk of the credit for the result goes to drum sergeant Willie Currams, who has developed a number of young drummers over the past 18 months or so to the point where they are competing at World Championship level, leaving several more seasoned bands trailing in their wake.

Willie, who doubles up as band chairman, said: "Hopefully this is the start of something big for the band. The drum corps, in particular, has a number of young players who are only going to get better and there is a world title there to be won in the coming years. Qualifying for the final last weekend has whetted the band's appetite and we're already looking ahead to next season."

Pipe major Joe Mooney added: "We're delighted with how things went over the weekend but conscious too of the potential to do better next year. We'll take a well earned break for the next couple of weeks after what has been a hectic season and redouble our efforts to ensure we return from Glasgow with a trophy next year. I think we did Tullamore and Offaly proud - but this is only the start."

Last weekend's event, held at Glasgow Green, was the most successful in the 63-year history of the World Pipe Band Championships with a record entry of some 240 bands from 17 countries as well as a huge attendance of 53,000 on the day, also a record.

For further information contact Willie Currams (087 9583724), Joe Mooney (086 3268293) or Pat Nolan (087 6101773).

Band members who made the trip to Glasgow were: Joe Mooney (pipe major), John Leamy (pipe sergeant), Pat Nolan, Andrea Cooney, Don Devine, Mick Kennedy, Gary Mangan, Andy Cooney, Caitriona Lloyd; Willie Currams (drum sergeant), Michael Middleton (drum corproal), Ross Cannon, Brandon Troy, Martin Donnellan, Leo Middleton, Amy Buckley and Liam Dillane.