All set for the Mayo Young Sports Stars Awards
The stage is set for The Connaught Telegraph Mayo Young Sports Stars Awards 2024, which are taking place today (Friday) in Breaffy House Resort, Castlebar.
With help from members of the public who submitted entries in huge numbers in response to the call for nominations, and with thanks to the diligent work of our own adjudicating panel, we have picked some incredible young talent to honour tonight.
Organised by The Connaught Telegraph, the awards recognise athletes aged Under 23 who have become high achievers.
This year, once again, we will recognise and acknowledge individual athletes, groups and teams in various categories, and will present the Darragh Doherty Memorial Cup and Melissa Patterson Memorial Cup to the overall male and female sports personalities of the year, respectively.
The Darragh Doherty and Melissa Patterson trophies, along with the Eric O'Reilly Shield (for the top soccer team of the year), keep alive the memory of three sports stars who lost their lives in tragic circumstances.
Melissa was a promising young sports woman who played Gaelic football with Davitt College in Castlebar, while Darragh was a member of the Mayo team that won the All-Ireland minor title in 2013. Eric was a huge community activist in his native Erris, and was very much involved with Iorras Aontaithe FC as a player, coach and administrator.
When the awards were inaugurated, it was felt that the memory of these three individuals, who gave so much to sport before their lives were tragically cut short, should be honoured.
The winners of the Darragh Doherty and Melissa Patterson trophies will be announced on Friday night, while the Eric O'Reilly Shield winners the Mayo Under 13 Schoolboys, who won the SFAI Bowl trophy last year.
For the first time this year year we will be presenting awards to cheerleading and ice and inline hockey athletes, illustrating the range of activities that young people throughout Mayo engage in.
The more popular sports feature highly also in what promises to be a memorable night as sport in all its glory is celebrated. See you there!