Mayo Young Sports Stars: 2025 winners revealed
With help from readers, we can happily announce the winners in The Connaught Telegraph Mayo Young Sports Stars Awards 2025.
Organised by The Connaught Telegraph, the awards recognise younger local athletes aged under 23 who have become high achievers. The gala ceremony will take place on Friday, March 13, at Breaffy House Resort, Castlebar.
Earlier this year we asked members of the public to get involved and nominate individuals, groups or teams who performed exceptionally well during 2025, and the nominations shot in right up to the cut-off point.
The Connaught Telegraph Young Sports Stars Awards were revived three years ago, when the 2022 winners were honoured in Breaffy House Resort, following a break of a couple of years brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Now, once more, we 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 sportspersons of the year, respectively, on the night of the ceremony.
With the assistance of the public through the big number of nominations, the adjudicating panel can now reveal the winners in various categories (see below).
Tickets for the gala awards event in Breaffy House Resort on March 13 are available now. For details, contact Aiden Henry on (087) 6582141 or aiden.henry@con-telegraph.ie.
TEAM AWARDS
Male Team of the Year: Castlebar Comets Under 16 basketball team (winners of an All-Ireland Division 2 title)
Female Team of the Year: Castlebar Town Under 14 girls (league and cup double winners in Mayo)
Eric O'Reilly Shield: Balla Secondary School Under 15 boys (FAI Schools Minor B Boys National Cup champions)
Inclusive Club of the Year: Manulla FC
CATEGORY AWARDS
Athletics: Freya Renton (Westport AC), Roxane Sands (Moy Valley AC) and Damien Moyles (Moy Valley AC)
Boxing: Natalia Fasciszewska (Castlebar BC) and Michael Mullaney (Claremorris BC)
Draughts: Kilmurray Draughts Club Under 10s (Erin Ruane, Eimear Heffernan, Michael O'Boyle, John O'Boyle, Tomás Ruane, Daniel Loftus and Tiernan Lynn)
Equestrianism: Lily Slattery (Knock)
Gaelic games – men's football: Darragh Beirne (Claremorris)
Gaelic games – ladies' football: Fionnuala McLaughlin (Westport)
Gaelic games – handball: Newport Féile team (Sean Nevin, John Irwin, Dylan Sheridan and Feidhlim Guilfoyle)
Gaelic games – hurling: Colm Enright (Castlebar Mitchels)
Gaelic games – camogie: Mayo Under 16 team (All-Ireland Under 16 C Shield winners)
Golf: Thomas McDonagh (Westport GC)
Martial Arts: Aoibhinn Monaghan (Belmullet)
Olympic Handball: Gaelcholáiste Chomáin (Rossport)
Rowing: Sean Gallagher, Matthew Keegan, Caoimhe Walsh and Lauren Cuffe of Tullaghan Bay Rowing Club
Rugby: Dylan Rice (Ballina RFC)
Soccer – men: Cillian Keating (Mayo FC)
Soccer – women: Chantelle Gibbons (Castlebar Town)
Swimming: Meadbh Burke (Claremorris)
Volunteer of the Year: Rebecca Gormley
SPECIAL AWARDS
Manulla FC Under 12 girls
Saoirse Reynolds, Westport United FC
Caitlin Malone, White Tiger Martial Arts
Cadhla Ní Chionnaith, Karate Iorrais