Thornton first in to claim gold

COMMUNITY GAMES/National Finals: With the athletics not taking place until next weekend, much of the attention on the first weekend of the ESB Community Games National Finals at Mosney was on the swimming, with an amazing 168 races held in the pool over the course of 16 hours.

Claire Thornton of Salthill, Galway, had the honour of winning the first swimming gold when she raced home in the girls under-eight freestyle final.

The family spirit of the Games was nowhere more evident than in the gold-medal winning Waterford under-15 girls soccer team.

All the players hail from Kilmacthomas and the side included two sets of twins in the form of the Hassetts, Nora and Claire, and the Kirwans, Juila and Kate, who also had younger sister, Lenny, in the side.

Seán Foley, who has been coaching the side with assistant Nora Kirwan since May, said his side were ready to party after the victory.

"For the entire weekend the girls have been very focused on getting the right result, but now that we have done that, we are going to go out and enjoy ourselves even more than we already have been," he said.

With such large crowds of athletes and spectators at Mosney, it was hard to stand out, but the under-13 boys rounders champions from The Heath in Laois certainly managed to do that as they sported matching orange dye in their hair as they went up to collect their medals.

It was the third year in a row that a rounders side from The Heath has come to Mosney and won gold, and team manger Michael Dowling praised the "great commitment" of his players.

The Dunmore-Galway under-12 girls football team took the title for the second-year in succession with a brave 0-8 to 1-3 win over Erne Valley, Cavan.

Coach Mary Burke praised her side for being "so dedicated, so disciplined and so calm under pressure".

However, it wasn't just the winners that had smiles on their faces: everybody seemed to be having a good time. Sometimes clichés become clichés for all the right reasons and yesterday it was clear it was not the winning but the taking part that really mattered.