Published: Thursday, 17th June, 2010 5:00pm

Bawnboy salutes Special Olympics medal winners

by Sean McMahon

The village of Bawnboy and surrounding area turned out in strength to give a rousing welcome home to Johnny McKiernan and Carmel Donohoe who both scooped medals at the Special Olympics in Thomond Park in Limerick. Also in picture is Annie Donohoe and Susan McVitty.
Pic by==: 97

Two wonderfully committed Special Olympics athletes from Bawnboy had a magic time in Thomond Park in Limerick and delivered a remarkable gold medal and two silver medals in the national games.

The entire village of Bawnboy and surrounding area turned out in strength to welcome home Johnny McKiernan who won a gold medal in the 100-metre walking event and a silver medal in the 50-metre event and Carmel Donohoe who won a silver medal in the 50-metre walking race.

Susan McVitty, speaking at the welcome home reception, said the two remarkable athletes had done the village and county proud. She also congratulated all the other winners in the county.

Almost €150k raised

Susan thanked all the people who travelled to Limerick and helped in every way possible.

"In Cavan alone in the last four years we have raised €145,000 for Special Olympics and just four weeks ago we did a bucket collection in Belturbet and collected €1,750 in just three hours.

"It just shows the generosity of the people when it comes to the Special Olympics," said Susan. The collection was carried out by Cllrs. John McDonald, John Scott and Peggy Gray and Susan McVitty.

A delighted gold medal winner, Johnny McKiernan, told The Anglo-Celt that the atmosphere was electric in Thomond Park when he crossed the line in first place for gold.

Johnny said he trained very hard for the walking race and could be seen in full flight around the Templeport GAA Grounds every evening and he also practised in Cavan town.

He met Keith Wood and Paul O'Connell and Des Cahill from RTE and Ian Dempsey from Today FM.

"I'm a very proud man standing here tonight in my home village of Bawnboy, with my family and friends - it's just magic," he said.

Carmel Donohoe was thrilled with her silver medal and explained to huge applause that she literally walked away with the rest of the field. "I am very proud to be coming home here tonight to Bawnboy with my silver medal. I'm the happiest woman in Bawnboy tonight," said Carmel.

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