Local heroes are honoured

THE inaugural Northside People Community and Sports Awards 2017 were held in the Carlton Hotel at Dublin Airport last Thursday, with broadcaster Joe Duffy doing the honours as MC.

Due to the high quality of nominees submitted by our readers, our judges were faced with a near-impossible task in drawing up their shortlist for each of the 10 categories. The following were the winners and runners-up in each category:

SPORT 

Club of the Year: Cumann Baire Setanta, Ballymun (winner); Darndale Boxing Club; Fingallians GAA Club.

Team of the Year: St Finian's Under 15 Camogie/Gaelic Football Team (winner); Shelbourne FC Ladies’ Team; Baldoyle United FC U11s.

Young Sports Person of the Year: Aoife Hopkins (winner), Jessica Ziu, Eliza Bluma.

Outstanding Achievement Award: Liam Daly (winner), Dick Fields, Robyn Byrne.

Coach of the Year: Nicholas Duffy (winner), Fionntan MacGibb, Paul Keane.

COMMUNITY

Best School in the community: Belvedere College (winner); St Michael's House, Baldoyle; Pobalscoil Neasáin.

Volunteer of the Year: Olive Kelly (winner), John (Sammy) Donnelly, Helen Thompson.

Business in the Community: Laverty’s Pharmacy (winner); Clodagh Bury, Slim4Life; Top Oil.

Young Community Person of Year: Dylan Lynch (winner) Stephen James, Stephen Lally.

Community & Neighbourhood Group: Christine Keegan, Stardust Relatives and Victims’ Committee (winner); Bohemian Foundation; Portmarnock Arch Club.

Christine Keegan also took the Overall Community Award, with Cumann Baire Setanta winning the Overall Sport Award.

Tony McCullagh, group editor of Dublin People, paid tribute to all the nominees shortlisted for awards on the night.

"It is fitting that we honour community groups, volunteers, businesses and sporting excellence in the year of the 30th anniversary of Northside People," he said. "As the leading local newspaper, it has been a pleasure to feature so many of these nominees in our pages over the past number of decades."

Northside People would like to thank the sponsors of the awards: Finglas Safety Forum, Cabra Community Policing Forum, Jennings Funeral Directors, Baldoyle Training Centre (ddletb), Staffords Funeral Homes, ACME Blinds, Jump Zone, Orchard Fostering, Northside Shopping Centre and the Carlton Hotel, Dublin Airport.

In addition, we would like to express our gratitude to sales executive Orla Carpenter, who was the main event organiser and did an incredible job in making the awards such a resounding success.

Special thanks also to Joe Duffy who was an outstanding host on the night. The popular broadcaster was presented with a special edition front page, declaring him to have been awarded the 'Freedom of the Northside'.