Red carpet rolled out for Longford's All-Ireland Fleadh winner
It was all about traditional music in Granard recently as Mullinalaghta teen, Aoibhinn Ní Loinsigh was honoured for her All-Ireland achievement at Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann earlier this year.
Aoibhinn Ní Loinsigh is a member of the CCE John Dungan branch of Comhaltas na hÉireann and she won the All-Ireland U18 title in the Button Accordion category at this year’s Fleadh Cheoil, which was held in Mullingar over the summer.
A civic recognition event was held in her honour at Granard Library, where local councillors commended her on her achievement.
“Aoibhinn’s excellent musical ability was proudly on show at the Fleadh,” said Cathaoirleach of Granard Municipal District, Cllr Colin Dalton.
“She joins a long line of excellent traditional musicians that come from her county of Longford. Her win also signals traditional music is alive and well with our younger generation. It shows a bright future of our music and breathes new life into our culture and heritage.
“I would like to congratulate Aoibhinn on her well deserved win. We look forward to seeing and hearing from you in the future.”
Aoibhinn graciously accepted her award from Longford County Council and thanked Cllr Dalton, as well as Cllr PJ Reilly who submitted a notice of motion at a previous Granard MD meeting requesting the civic reception. His motion was backed by Cllr Turlough McGovern.
“It’s so nice to receive this award. I know you often hear of places like Galway and Clare and the proud music traditions they have but we forget that we have the same proud music tradition here in Longford - especially in North Longford,” she said.
“So it’s really nice to receive this award and it shows the support from the local area.”