2020 Bursary Recipients
Niamh O’Neill
Niamh comes from Woodpark, Ballyhaunis. She is a past pupil of Ballyhaunis community School and is a member of St Coleman’s South mayo Athletic club. Niamh is an all-round sportswoman,
taking an active part in boxing and GAA but her first love is athletics, which she has performed competively in since she was 9-years-old. Niamh has won 44 All-Ireland medals in
both indoor and outdoor championships while representing her club and school. She is a member of the Connacht High Performance Athletic Squad and has participated in the National Track and Field Indoor and outdoor championships, the Irish Athletic National Finals, the Inter
Provisional Tailteann Games and the Secondary Schools International combines in 2016, 2017
and 2018. Niamh set a national record in the 2015 All-Ireland Schools’ minor Girls’ long Jump, with a jump of 5.29 which won her an Inter Provisional medal.
Niamh has been described in the athletic field as an athlete with a very special talent, good posture, speed and most importantly, a good attitude. She hopes to pursue a career in PE and maths .
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Eóghan Lavin
Eóghan comes from Castlebawn, Midfield is a 5th year student in Scoil Muire agus Padraig, Swinford and a member of Ballyhaunis Boxing club. Eóghan began boxing when he was 8-years-old. To date, he has represented the sport at county, national, European and international levels. He is an IABA European silver medallist. He competed with the Irish team v USA in New York in 2019, winning gold. He has numerous club tournament wins, six county champion titles, six provincial Connacht titles and seven national champion titles. He received the Connaught Telegraph Young Sports Star Award for boxing in 2016 and 2017 and he was the recipient of the Western People Young Sports Star Award in 2019. Eóghan is a wonderful ambassador for his club, county and country, his love and dedication to the sport of boxing is evident in the standard he has achieved at such a young age.
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Hazel Finn
Hazel comes from Cordarragh, Kiltimagh and is a student of St Louis community School, Kiltimagh. She is a member of the Maree Basketball club in Galway and is currently playing in the Super league with the club. Hazel is part of the U18 Irish International basketball team and has represented sport at both national and international levels. She is a member of the Mayo minor football team; member of the Irish U18 basketball team; winner of an All-Ireland medal in handball; and played the AIcc club championships in 2016, 2017 and 2018.
Hazel was due to attend the international stage of the European championships in Austria in July 2020 but the event was postponed to 2021. Hazel has played in tournaments in Iceland, Belarus,
Luxembourg and Scotland. She played in Montenegro and Bulgaria in the European championships in 2018 and 2019.
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Hugh Armstrong
Hugh comes from Liosdubhóg, Knockmore, Ballina and is a trainee accountant
in the GPO, Dublin. He has been a member of Ballina Athletics club since he was 10-
years-of-age. Hugh earned a full athletic scholarship to Providence college, USA and he competed as a member of the Providence college track/cross-country team from 2013 to 2017, and then as a member of the Ocean State Athletic club from 2017 to 2019, competing in 5km, 10km and cross-country races.
When he returned to Ireland, he focused on marathon running. In 2019, he ran the fastest
marathon ever ran by a Mayo or Connacht athlete in Dublin. In February 2020 he improved on
this time in the Seville marathon and was within a minute of the Olympic qualifying standard. is
record could guarantee Hugh selection for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, which will now
be held in 2021.
Róisín Murphy
Róisín is from Drumcorrabawn, Breaffy, Castlebar and is a fifth year student in St Joseph’s Secondary School, Castlebar. Róisín has been a member of the Castlebar Tennis club since
she was 5-years-old. She has represented her sport at both national and international levels and
has played eight international ITFs along with junior and senior national indoors, national match
plays and Junior lawn Tennis championships. She plays, on average, 16 Irish tournaments per
year. Roisin is currently ranked No. 5 nationally in the U18 section. She is ranked as No. 1 in
Connacht as she has won 20 junior tournaments, four senior tournaments and has made it to the finals of the national match plays and national indoors. Róisín is part of the Connacht squad and she trains in Dublin from Friday to Sunday, and at the Connacht Regional Tennis centre from
Monday to Thursday. She is being coached by national performance director, Garret Barry. Róisín’s dream is to get a scholarship to the US and she is aiming to be No. 1 nationally, in what is a very competitive individual sport.