Castlerea Community School was  honoured to have Micheál O’ Muircheartaigh present  its student awards. The awards cover a vast range of student activities including academic, sporting and many other extra curricular achievements. Awards were presented in the following categories Student of the Year, Atendance, Sports awards, Special Achievement, Green Schools Campaign to name but some.

A Hall of Fame Award was presented to Joe Henry in honour of coaching ten All Ireland Winning Basketball Teams with Castlerea Community School.

Our special guest Micheál O’ Muircheartaigh spoke so eloquently and bilingually, imparting much food for thought. He reiterated the truism of the seanfhocail “ar scáth chéile a mhaireann na daoine” – “we all depend on each other”.

In encouraging the students  he also cited the  trials and tribulations encountered by the renowned Gaelic footballer Colm O’Rourke in his bid to win an All Ireland medal with Meath. Colm played County football for 11 years before achieving his ultimate goal!  Perhaps Micheál’s resounding message to us all was “To try is not to fail, the biggest failure is to fail to try”.