Castleisland native, Darragh Seán Begley performed his final rehearsal with the Killarney based cheer-leading group ‘Flares’ and its proprietors, his friends and the group founders, Hayley Murphy and Danny Farkas in June 2019.
During his five years as volunteer coach and athlete with the group, the now 25 year old Darragh Seán performed with distinction in Ireland and in the UK.
When leaving home those few years ago he promised to return regularly but a world pandemic dictated otherwise.
World Bronze Medal
However, he returned to Castleisland last week for a flying visit and from his luggage he produced a world bronze medal.
Darragh Seán has followed his schooldays dream of becoming a world force in cheer-leading and is now an integral part of the Coventry Dynamite – Ignite team which competed in the 2022 Cheer-leading World Championships during the last week in April in Orlando, Florida at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex there.
Interest Piqued by Leaflet
He took up the sport when his interest was piqued by a leaflet from a recruitment drop by the ‘Flairs’ club members in Castleisland in 2014.
After his five enjoyable years with Flairs, during which he also completed a four year degree in health, leisure and massage, Darragh Seán departed for Coventry.
There he hoped to find his feet in the sport he came to love so much.
Elite Performance Team
The fact that he’s a member of his adopted club’s elite performance team which won bronze at the recent world championships speaks volumes about dreams realised and ambitions set for the years ahead.
Darragh Seán’s mom Angela, while celebrating and delighting in the success of her son, couldn’t help thinking of how proud her mom would be if she had lived to see her grandson representing her native country abroad.
UK Native Granny
Anne Cahill, née Lady Howard, Dooneen, Castleisland died in February 2018 in her 95th year. She was born in Thornbury in Bristol in 1923. During the war she joined the Red Cross and became a nurse.
She was friendly with a girl from Scartaglen, Mary Cahill who worked in the corner shop in her locality. The friends visited Ireland and came to Castleisland on a November 1st horse fair day. Anne met Mary’s brother John Cahill, Cupid struck and the rest is her story.
“She would be over the moon to think that her grandson would represent her native country in competition abroad and to bring home a world championship medal to Dooneen,” said Angela.
You can see Darragh Seán’s VLOG from the championships with a click on the link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXLWj3ZG0Mk
You can contact The Maine Valley Post on… Anyone in The Maine Valley Post catchment area who would like to send us news and captioned photographs for inclusion can send them to: jreidy@mainevalleypost.com Queries about advertising and any other matters regarding The Maine Valley Post can also be sent to that address or just ring: 087 23 59 467.
