'Well done' Carlow bowls team wins one of top prizes in National Bowls Competition

Members of the Bennekerry Gold Active Retirement bowls team from Carlow have taken home one of the top prizes at the 2025 Active Retirement Ireland National Bowls Competition.

The competition took place at the Gleneagle INEC Arena in Killarney, Co Kerry last week.

Bennekerry Gold bowls team members Helen Foley, Ann Dunne, Mary McDonald and George Nolan were presented with the 2025 small bowls plate runners-up prize by Active Retirement Ireland at a special gala ball held to close the competition on Thursday (20th November).

Finalists from counties Cork, Kerry, Kildare, Waterford, Westmeath and Wexford were also presented with awards.

Over three days, 64 four-person Active Retirement bowls teams, including nine from Co Carlow, competed across the large and small bowls competitions.

The other teams from Carlow were the Tullow Rollers, Tullow Rockers, Tullow Smilers, Ballon Bulltree Bowls, Bennekerry Red, Leighlinbridge A, Myshall Red and Myshall Green.

Speaking at the awards presentation, Active Retirement Ireland CEO Fran Brennan said: “Well done to all teams who participated in this year’s National Bowls Competition and special congratulations to our finalists across the large and small bowls tournaments.

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“This tournament is a celebration of older people and their right to live independent, full lives in which they can stay socially connected and be active participants in their communities. The more than 450 competitors, volunteer officials and spectators who have joined us in Killarney this week exemplify the drive and self-determination of older people to live their best life in later life.

“We are all ageing, and it cannot be too much to ask that people in Ireland be supported to age well — with dignity, independence and equality. It is time the government took meaningful steps to develop and implement whole-of-government strategies and frameworks to ensure we can.

“Thank you to Hidden Hearing for their generous support of the 2025 National Bowls Competition, and to our wonderful hosts the Gleneagle Hotel and staff for their steadfast recognition of the value and contribution of older people in Irish society and for their ongoing support in making this event possible each year.”

There are 516 local Active Retirement Associations (ARAs) in local communities across Ireland, including in Co Carlow — groups of older people who come together to organise social events and activities to reinforce social connectedness and reduce loneliness — supported by the national body Active Retirement Ireland, Ireland’s largest membership organisation for older people in the country.

For more information about Active Retirement Ireland and to find your local group in Co Carlow, see www.activeirl.ie.