All Ireland Community Games Athletics Roll of Honour 1968-2020 The idea of Community Games was born in October 1967 when a local sports organiser, Joseph Connolly, gathered interested parties together in Walkinstown Community Hall to discuss the running of sporting events for children in a number of areas in Dublin. While it was proposed to start with athletics, the concept quickly expanded to embrace soccer, gaelic games, swimming, basketball and chess so as to broaden participation by children, in particular by those who otherwise would not have had an opportunity for competitive sports. Father Martin Tierney, C.C., Walkinstown, became the inaugural Chairperson and Joseph Connolly, the inaugural Hon. Secretary, a post he would hold through 1992. A provisional committee issued questionnaires to local tenants’ and residents’ associations to garner interest. A meeting of representatives from twenty-four areas covering the city and county of Dublin took place in Moran’s Hotel at the end of March 1968 to form sub-committees and to draw up a programme. The competitions were divided into age groups under 8, 10, 12, 14 and 16 on 31 July, 1968. Independent Newspapers offered sponsorship for the events and the late Billy Morton put Santry Stadium (at that time named John F. Kennedy Stadium) at the disposal of the organising committee. The Dublin Community Games took place over a two-week period in August 1968 with the athletics finals at Santry on Sunday 25th August in which over 620 children competed. By 1969 the number of participating Dublin residents’ and tenants’ associations had increased to 47 with over 1,800 athletes competing at Santry over two days in heats and semi-finals and 300 competing in the finals of 26 events. Following the undoubted success of and experience gained from two Dublin Community Games, the executive committee looked further afield to examine the possibility of expanding Community Games into the provinces with a view to establishing national finals. Representatives of residents’ and tenants’ associations outside Dublin were approached with a view to setting up the Community Games system in their areas and counties. Members of the Dublin Committee attended a number of meetings around the country to offer help and advice. In 1970 teams from seven counties – Cork, Kilkenny, Limerick, Louth, Roscommon, Tipperary and Waterford – travelled to Dublin to compete in the inaugural National Community Games. The Irish Independent provided the Games with national coverage as co-sponsor with the National Dairy Council. In 1971 sixteen counties sent representative teams to Dublin. The National Dairy Council published booklets on how to organise a team for the Games. A special promotional film was produced by the NDC which was shown in community centres throughout the country. Thirty-one counties took part in the national finals in 1973 with over 2,000 qualifiers from an estimated 500,000 participants at community level. The Games expanded to include cultural activities such as art, model-making, debating, dance and choirs. By the year 2000 there were over 6,000 local branches involving over 20,000 volunteers. In 1973 the finals moved to Mosney, Co Meath, which would remain the venue for finals through 2008. The Community Games expanded to three days of competition in 1974 through 1978 and changed to two weekends of competition from 1979. Currently they take place in May, principally team sports and cultural activities, and in August with athletics, team sports and cultural activities. With the conversion of Mosney into a residential area for asylum seekers, the National Community Games moved to Athlone Institute of Technlogy from 2009 through 2016. In 2017 the National Community Games Festival took place at the National Sports Campus in Abbotstown, Co Dublin in May and August to mark the Golden Jubilee of the foundation of Community Games in Ireland. In 2018 the Games moved to their current venue, the University of Limerick. Athletes qualifiy for the National Finals through their parish, then county with only one athlete permitted per county. Comments, additions, corrections to Pierce O'Callaghan [email protected] & Cyril Smyth [email protected] as at February 2020 Notable Athletes who won National Community Games titles Name / Title About Niall Quinn - U12 Long Puck x 3 92 Caps, 21 goals for Republic of Ireland Mark English - U14 80m Hurdles Two time European 800m medallist Eamonn Coghlan - U16 1500m, U17 Mar World 5000m Champion John Treacy - U17 Marathon Olympic silver and 2 time World Champion James Nolan - U16 1500m European Indoor 1500m medallist Gillian O'Sullivan - U13 Race Walk World 20km Walk silver medallist Sonia O'Sullivan - U17 Mini Marathon Olympic silver, 3 time World Champion Karen Shinkins - U17 100m European Indoor 400m medallist Won Community Games and top GAA Honours Bernard Brogan - Dublin U16 High Jump Joe Canning - Galway U12 Long Puck Noel McGrath - Tipperary U12 Long Puck Boys U8 60m 1982 Edward Reid Wicklow 1983 Marcus Kelleher Kerry 1984 Declan Sweeney Mayo 1985 Paul Comerford Kerry 1986 Trevor Clancy Sligo 1987 Mervyn Brooks Clare 1988 Thomas Quaid Limerick 1989 Alan Ryan Limerick 1990 Manus Boyce Donegal 1991 Thomas Leech Roscommon 1992 Francis Holohan Leitrim 1993 Aidan Kilcoyne Mayo 1994 Seamus Hannon Waterford 1995 Stephen O'Brien Limerick 1996 Conor Mahon Offaly 1997 Patrick Frawley Clare 1998 Darren Moroney Tipperary 1999 Thomas Madden Longford 2000 Brendan Aranmonu Cork 2001 Tim Tobin Limerick 2002 Owen O'Donnell Limerick 2003 Shane Costello Limerick 2004 Gavin Calpin Sligo 2005 Darragh Rossiter Wexford 2006 Kieran Dwyer Kerry 2007 Sam O'Neill Wexford 2008 Donal O'Sullivan Kerry 2009 Jason Deery Roscommon 2010 Alan Miley Wicklow 2011 Runo Ayavoro Kildare 2012 John Ikpotokin Laois 2013 John Ikpotokin Laois 2014 Darragh Fahy Galway 2015 Ultan O'Reilly Cavan 2016 Matthew Kelly Mayo 2017 Aidan Donnelly Limerick 2018 Oisin Giles Meath 2019 Caolan Mulrooney Sligo Boys U8 80m 1968 Phillip Mulligan Dublin 80 yds 1969 P Downes Dublin 80 yds 1970 Michael Brennan Dublin 80 yds 1971 Pat Nevin Limerick 1972 J McInerney Clare 1973 Peter Breslin Tyrone 1974 Tony McCarthy Donegal 1975 Seamus O'Hanlon Louth 1976 B Adamson Dublin 1977 Kenneth Murphy Cork 1978 Liam Barry Dublin 1979 Peter Duffy Monaghan 1980 Fintan Reilly Louth 1981 Kevin Quirke Galway 1982 Edward McDonagh Mayo 1983 Paul Nestor Meath 1984 Brendan Lynch Meath 1985 Colin Cooney Meath 1986 Tony Dunne Limerick 1987 Padraig Hogan Kerry 1988 Ciaran Dempsey Kildare 1989 John Buckley Kerry 1990 Peter Condron Laois 1991 John Joy Limerick 1992 Eoin O'Connell Kerry 1993 John Laffey Dublin 1994 Stephen Kennedy Meath 1995 Patrick Coady Carlow 1996 Derek Maguire Louth 1997 Liam Brennan Wexford 1998 Aaron Walsh Tipperary 1999 Mark Grimes Roscommon 2000 Liam Finnerty Galway 2001 Brian O'Reilly Cork 2002 Kevin McDonnell Sligo 2003 Jack Greene Louth 2004 Paraic McNamara Clare 2005 Jack Daly Kerry 2006 David Shaw Kerry 2007 Tony Odubate Clare 2008 Darragh Lowth Kerry 2009 Jonathan Commins Louth 2010 Jack Quinn Kildare 2011 Moses Ikpefua Dublin 2012 Charlie Naughton Galway 2013 Patrick Kiely Limerick 2014 Kareem Matoni Wicklow 2015 Kevin O'Mahoney Wexford 2016 Solomon Udeze Offaly 2017 Tom Henry Galway 2018 William Myers Carlow 2019 Jack Monaghan Clare Boys U8 100m 1968 Joseph Fagan Dublin 100 yds 1969 100 yds 1970 Michael Brennan Dublin 100 yds 1971 Michael O'Dwyer Dublin 1972 J McInerney Clare 1973 Stephen Donnelly Dublin 1974 I Donnelly Armagh 1975 Aidan O'Toole Carlow 1976 C Flannery Dublin 1977 Michael Toal Armagh 1978 Barry McCarthy Dublin 1979 Barry Roe Meath 1980 Richard O'Mahoney Limerick 1981 Brian Begley Limerick Boys U10 100m 1968 James Kealy Dublin 100 yds 1969 Peter Brazil Dublin 100 yds 1970 B Regan Dublin 100 yds 1971 Ciaran Clune Dublin 1972 Paul O'Brien Limerick 1973 F Scully Dublin 1974 Michael Fleming Offaly 1975 Kevin Whelan Waterford 1976 Brian Finn Cavan 1977 Eamonn Crothers Armagh 1978 Declan Hennelly Galway 1979 Paul McCarthy Dublin 1980 Gerry Reidy Kerry 1981 Peter Duffy Monaghan 1982 Colin Casey Galway 1983 Mark Lynch Meath 1984 Gary Mander Dublin 1985 Terry Farrelly Cavan 1986 Stephen Delea Cork 1987 Colin Cooney Meath 1988 Tony Dunne Tipperary 1989 Keelan Crawford Donegal 1990 Noel Kennedy Meath 1991 Finian Power Dublin 1992 Peter Condron Laois 1993 Thomas Leech Roscommon 1994 John O'Sullivan Cork 1995 Aidan Kilcoyne Mayo 1996 Donal Murphy Louth 1997 Daniel Loughnane Galway 1998 Joey Dolan Meath 1999 Liam Brennan Wexford 2000 Niall Flynn Monaghan 2001 Thomas Madden Longford 2002 Che Cullen Fermanagh 2003 Che Cullen Fermanagh 2004 Cormac Lynch Clare 2005 Jack Greene Louth 2006 Padraic McNamara Clare 2007 Aidan Conneely Galway 2008 Nzube Okoye Clare 2009 Sam O'Neill Wexford 2010 Toriq Adegoke Carlow 2011 Jonathan Commins Louth 2012 Moses Ikpefua Dublin 2013 Moses Ikpefua Dublin 2014 Divine Izekor Westmeath 2015 Samuel Olaoye Dublin 2016 Marc O'Brien Clare 2017 Ademide Joseph Laois 2018 Eddie Raicevic Waterford 2019 Steve Reidy Kerry Boys U10 200m 1968 James Kealy Dublin 220 yds 1969 Peter Brazil Dublin 200 yds 1970 Francis Hitchcock Dublin 220 yds 1971 Tony Maguire Dublin 1972 John Sexton Dublin 1973 John McLoughlin Kildare 1974 Michael Deery Monaghan 1975 Gerard McDonald Dublin 1976 John Molloy Meath 1977 Willie McCreary Kildare 1978 Ronan Nicholson Clare 1979 Kenneth Archbold Carlow 1980 Barry Rafferty Donegal 1981 Barry Ward Leitrim 1982 Fintan Reilly Louth 1983 David Dillon Meath 1984 Edward McDonagh Mayo 1985 Mark