TWO RUNNERS-UP PLACES FOR MEATH MACRA IN TALENT FINAL IN THE HELIX

Wednesday, the 23^rd May - Athboy’s second place in Pop / Folk / Ballad Group and Kilcloon’s Claire Burke’s runner-up in Mastermind were the highlights of Meath Macra’s involvement in the National Final of the 2012 Macra National Talent Competition in The Helix Theatre, Dublin last Saturday night 19^th May. The competition, now in its 28^th year, comprises eight separate events namely Disco Dancing, Solo Instrumental Music, Novelty Act, Solo Singing, Mastermind, Set Dancing, Comedy and Pop / Folk / Ballad Group. There were four finalists in each event in The Helix Theatre and following the two national semi-finals, one of which was in Summerhill, Meath qualified for The Helix in five of the events.

Kilcloon Macra’s Anne Murphy from Colistown, Kilcloon was Meath’s first performer on stage when she appeared in Solo Singing. She gave a very fine rendition of the Adele song ‘Hometown Glory’ on which she accompanied herself on guitar but in an event of very high quality in which there was very little between the four finalists Anne lost out to winner Anne Marie Kavanagh from Clodagh, Co. Tipperary and runner-up Anabel Cordoba from Treble R, Co. Dublin. The other finalist was Emma Conroy of Camross, Co. Laois.

Moynalty were appearing in their first ever National Talent Final when they took the stage in the Novelty Act event. Their team of Michael Bennett, Matthew Brady, Sean Corrigan and Darren Dowdall  gave a fine performance of their sketch entitled ‘Airplane’ but again finished out of the top two in an event won by Cushinstown, Co. Wexford with Balyna / Carbury in second place. The other finalists were Donoughmore, Co. Cork.

Kilcloon’s second appearance of the night came courtesy of Pacetown girl Claire Burke who was appearing in the Mastermind section at the National Final for the third time, having been runner-up in 2010 and also in the Final the previous year. Claire’s specialist topic was Cinema and after the first 90 second speed round on specialist topics she was in the lead having scored a brilliant 16 points to lead by one point from John Dineen of Aghinagh, Co. Cork whose specialist topic was Current Affairs. However the eighteen year old Cork contestant scored another 15 points in the second speed round on general knowledge to give him a brilliant winning total of 30 points, six ahead of Claire Burke who got eight points in her second round to finish second on 24 points, an excellent score but just not good enough on a night when the young Corkman was in brilliant form. The other finalists were from Togher, Co. Louth and Clodagh, Co. Tipperary.

The Ardcath duo of Nicholas Coyle and Paddy Morris got plenty of laughs for their Comedy routine but finished out of the top two in an event won by a female duo from Berrings, Co. Cork with Emma Phelan from Camross, Co. Laois in second place. The other finalists were a duo from Balyna / Carbury, Co. Kildare.

Athboy have a great record in the Pop / Folk Ballad Group section over the years with six titles, a number of runners-up positions and other Final appearances also. They were reigning champions going in to this year’s Final and once again the group of Caoimhe Leavy, Claire Gough, Celine Smyth, Sarah Beirne, Jenny Faulkner and Aoife Mooney performed brilliantly and gave excellent renditions of their two songs ‘Heart Like a Wheel’ and ‘Catch a Falling Star’ but lost out narrowly to a very fine group from Berrings, Co. Cork. The other finalists were from Balyna / Carbury, Co. Kildare and Bree, Co. Wexford.

Meath’s many performers certainly did themselves, their clubs and their county proud in what was a great night’s entertainment. Claire Burke and the Athboy Ballad group were presented with engraved Dublin Crystal runners-up trophies by Macra President Alan Jagoe on stage at the end of the night.  

Four Meath Macra clubs bid for Talent glory in The Helix

Meath will be represented in no less than five of the eight sections which comprise Macra na Feirme’s National Talent Competition when the National Final takes place in The Helix Theatre, Dublin this Saturday night 19th May commencing at 6.30 pm. This is the 28th year of the competition which comprises eight entirely separate events namely Disco Dancing, Solo Instrumental Music, Solo Singing, Novelty Act, Mastermind, Set Dancing, Comedy and Pop / Folk / Ballad Group. The Royal County’s finalists qualified from the recent national semi-final held in Summerhill. The National Final features four individuals or groups in each event.

Anne Murphy, Kilcloon

Four different Macra clubs are involved in Meath’s bid for glory on Saturday night. Kilcloon are doubly involved. Anne Murphy from Colistown, Kilcloon competes in Solo Singing and will be attempting to win that club’s third Solo Singing title following Clara Monahan’s double success in 2004 and 2006. Anne’s opponents on Saturday night come from Clodagh, Co. Tipperary, Treble R, Co. Dublin and Camross, Co. Laois.

Claire Burke, Kilcloon

Kilcloon’s second representative is Claire Burke from Pacetown, Kilcloon who competes in Mastermind. Claire, whose specialist topic is Cinema, appears in her third Final having previously reached the Finals in 2009 and 2010, coming second in the latter. Incidentally her first cousin Owen won Mastermind in 2009. Claire’s opponents on Saturday night come from Aghinagh, Co. Cork, Togher, Co. Louth and Clodagh, Co. Tipperary.

Sean Corrigan, Darren Dowdall, Micheal Bennett, Matthew Brady

Moynalty appear in their first ever National Talent Final when a quartet from the club compete in the Novelty Act against groups from Donoughmore, Co. Cork, Balyna / Carbury, Co. Kildare and Cushinstown, Co. Wexford. The Moynalty quartet comprises Darren Dowdall, Matthew Brady, Sean Corrigan and Michael Bennett.Incidentally Novelty Act is one of only two National Talent events in which Meath has never won the title.

Nicholas Coyle, Paddy Morris, Ardcath

A duo from Ardcath Macra carry Meath’s hopes in the Comedy section. Paddy Morris and Nicholas Coyle are one of three duos in the Final. The others come from Balyna / Carbury, Co. Kildare and Berrings, Co, Cork while the fourth finalist is a solo performer from Camross, Co. Laois.










A Macra National Talent Final without Athboy is a rare occurrence and has in fact only happened in two of the twenty eight Finals. This year they appear in one of their specialty events, Pop / Folk / Ballad Group in which they are the reigning champions and in which they have won six of their record total of twenty two National Talent titles. The team comprises Caoimhe Leavy, Claire Gough, Celine  Smyth, Sarah Beirne, Jenny Faulkner and Aoife Mooney.

Jenny Faulker, Sarah Beirne, Claire Gough, Celine, Symth, Aoife Mooney, Caoimhe Leary

Saturday night in The Helix Theatre promises to be a wonderful occasion as scores of Macra members from no less than twenty one different clubs in twelve counties showcase their considerable entertainment talents in the National Final of one of the country’s longest running and most renowned amateur talent competitions. The Macra National Talent Final has established itself as a showpiece occasion of wonderful talent, splendid variety, embracing a large range of entertainment disciplines, and great excitement as groups from all over the 26 Counties vie for the eight national titles on offer. Meath Macra will be excellently represented by the performers from Ardcath, Moynalty, Kilcloon and Athboy and they will carry the good wishes of the whole county as they bid to add to the county’s current haul of thirty two National Talent titles, just two behind table-toppers Cork.

Tickets for Saturday night can be booked from Richard Harrahill on 046-9025023 / 087-2367941 or direct from The Helix on 01-7007000 or www.thehelix.ie. The Meath performers will be hoping for plenty of support from the Royal County in what promises to be a memorable night’s entertainment.