Catherine Costello, an 11-year old fiddle player, from Mayfield Grove in Athlone became Westmeath’s first medallist in this year’s fleadh cheoil when she came second in the under-12s, ‘slow airs’ category.
Catherine was competing at the 60th annual fleadh at the weekend in Cavan which was attended by an estimated 250,000 visitors.
The fleadh is regarded as one of the premier folk events in Europe, and provided a feast of music, song, and dance with an atmosphere of ‘craic agus ceol’ in Cavan town for the second year in a row.
Each year, the fleadh provides a meeting place for those who carry on the great traditions of playing and cherishing our music, songs and dance.
One of the key events of the fleadh is the competitions with traditional musicians of all ages and backgrounds competing at regional level throughout the year for an opportunity to participate in the All Ireland this weekend.
The standards were high and the music more than lived up to the expectations of judges and choosing winners for each category and competition was no easy task.
