Fourth for St Colmcille's Pipe Band at All-Irelands
Tullamore's St Colmcille's Pipe Band continued their recent run of good results by collecting fourth prize at the All-Ireland Pipe Band Championships in Lisburn, Co Antrim last Saturday. Members however have described the result as "anti-climatic".
The weekend result means that the band, which celebrates its centenary this year, has been among the prizes at each of the four competitions they have entered so far this year following their re-entry to the competitive circuit in 2010.
Having claimed a historic outright victory at the Co Down Championships only two weeks previously, St Colmcille's were quietly confident of repeating that result in Lisburn, particularly as they had already beaten most of the main contenders in their grade.
Their case wasn't by being drawn to play at 11.15am, which meant they were the first band to perform in the competition and it demanded that they be on the road at 5.30am from Tullamore.
Despite that, there was general satisfaction with the performance though, critically, the judges rated Achill from Co Mayo as the winners in Grade 4B followed by Closkelt and Bellaghy, while Tullamore had to be satisfied with the J & M Hunt Memorial Shield for fourth.
"There was something of an anti-climactic feel to the result following our success in Newcastle," commented band chairman and drum sergeant Willie Currams. "The mood was slightly muted travelling home on the bus initially, though perhaps that's a reflection of the progress we've made. Gradually the atmosphere lifted among us as we considered our achievement and the wisecracks flowed - most of which I was on the receiving end of!"
St Colmcille's will compete in at least two further competitions before the season is out, starting with the European Championships in Stormont, Belfast on July 30 and followed by the World Championships in Glasgow a fortnight later.
Band members who competed in Lisburn last Saturday were Joe Mooney (pipe major), John Leamy (pipe sergeant), Don Devine, Gary Mangan, Pat Middleton, Paul Mooney, Pat Nolan, Willie Currams (drum sergeant), Michael Middleton (drum corporal), Ross Cannon, John O'Gorman, Brandon Troy, Ollie Pyke, Martin Donnellan, Susan Feery and Leo Middleton.
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