Published: Wednesday, 10th March, 2010 5:00pm

Dragon gets fired at St. Mogue's

Dragon's Den star Sean Gallagher was the guest speaker at the St. Mogue's enrolment evening. He also signed copies of the TY publication Myths 'n' Mixes; (back from Left) Donal McTaggart, Niall Lynch, Amy Crowe, Marilla Feeley, Martha Brady, Ashling Smith, Bernie Browne, Ann Connaghan, principal; and Danny Hannigan (front) Rachel McCaffrey, Sean Gallagher and Shauna Leonard.Photo: Adrian Donohoe

Cavan businessman Sean Gallagher, and star of RTE's Dragons' Den, was all fired up over the St. Mogue's students' recipe for success when he attended the school's enrolment night in the Slieve Russell Hotel, Ballyconnell, last week.

Sean, the CEO of Smarthomes, was the keynote speaker at the event, and was full of praise about the Transition Year students' publication 'Myths and Mixes'.

The book was a project for the Cavan County Enterprise Awards. "I like the recipes and some of the cures I know. I think this book 'Myths and Mixes' is a great little enterprise."

For the hungry entrepreneur, his was a riveting speech, while for the young student he spoke with great encouragement - not just about entrepreneurship, but also about self confidence, respect, loyalty, compassion for others and community spirit.

"Community effort is the focus we need to get back to," said Sean Gallagher, "that's what I found greatest about going back to Ballyhaise (when I was recuperating) in 1983".

Mentioning the various mishaps or crises in his personal life, the dragon explained how his positive attitude always helped him to rise to the challenge and find a new direction. He attributed much of this positivity to the encouragement of his fifth class primary school teacher. This led him on to the huge impact teachers and schools can have on a person's entire life and how critically important it is to choose a school, which looks after the holistic wellbeing of the student.

"St. Mogue's College not only achieves outstanding Leaving Cert results - a clear indication of the exceptional quality of teaching and learning - but also cares for the whole person," he said.

The Ballyhaise born businessman concluded the evening by launching the publication and remained until late signing copies for the queues of parents and students who found him to be even more personable and encouraging than he appeared on stage. The students are selling their book of folklore, recipes and cures locally in Ballyconnell and Belturbet, as well as from the school. The price is €5. The book did indeed prove to be successful at the Cavan County Enterprise awards the following day when Vincent Reynolds, CEO of Cavan County Enterprise Board, awarded the St. Mogue's college students 'Best Display' in the senior category.