St Joseph’s Pipe Band scoop World Championships

By Hayden Moore

THERE is glee in Clondalkin after St Joseph’s Pipe Band were crowned World Champions at the recent World Pipe Band Championships in Glasgow.

Other groups – 195 in all, with some travelling from as far as New Zealand, USA and Malaysia – competed across nine different categories, with St Joseph’s scooping the Grade Three ‘A’ prize last Saturday.

St Joseph’s Pipe Band members Robbie Quinn, Chris Shearer, Ian Saunders, Billy O’Callaghan, Eimear Costello, Pat McNamara, Hannah Creighton, Declan Gielty and Shannon Boland.

The local pipe band, which is based out of a facility on the Old Nangor Road in Clondalkin, last won a major championship back in 1990, when they won the Grade Two World title.

A difficult feat, the 15 pipers and 10 drummers were named Three ‘A’ World Champions after their musical ensemble between pipes and drums, the unison of the pipes, tonal quality of the pipes and the unison and integration of the drummers passed through a panel of four judges.

Depending on their placings in each category, the aggregate builds up overall to find the final order of the bands.

Building on their podium-topping finish at the Scottish Championships, Pipe Major with St Joseph’s, Tim Farrelly, spoke of how they stepped up their preparation for the World’s after taking second place in both the All-Ireland and UK Championships.

Tim Farrelly, Pipe Major, St Joseph’s Pipe Band.

“As we worked harder and increased our practice sessions, we finally managed to crack it by winning our first major at the Scottish Championships at the end of July in Dumbarton just outside Glasgow,” he told The Echo.

“This success drove us on to work even harder in advance of the World Championships which we managed to win at the weekend.

“It was an incredible feeling for all of the band members.

“For some of the older experienced heads in the band it is widely appreciated how difficult it is to win any major championship, let alone the World’s, and for some of the younger ones it’s a fantastic experience which will hopefully spur them on to greater things.”

With the band now on hiatus before the new season pipes up at the end of September, they are hoping to be regraded up to Grade Two – where they previously won at the World’s 29 years ago.

Despite being World Champions once again, St Joseph’s Pipe Band are still open for people wanting to learn and be a part of the band with an Academy Band also in operation – they can be contacted through their Facebook page.