The launch of the 2023 Donegal Sports Star Awards took place yesterday evening in the Mount Errigal Hotel. The event doubled as a celebration of the 40th anniversary of the 1983 Donegal Sports Star Awards, honouring the winners of that year’s ceremony.
The 1983 awards were presented at the Milford Inn, and this year’s launch event marked the 40th anniversary of that momentous occasion. Among the 17 winners of 1983 was Dungloe man Vincent Bonner, who received both the Overall and Motorsport accolades. Sadly, three of the 1983 award winners have passed away since: John McLaughlin (April 2011), John Campbell (October 2022), and Cyril O’Boyle (August 2017).
The launch event also served as the launch of the 2023 Donegal Sports Star Awards, with athletics legend Danny McDaid being honoured with the task of launching the prestigious event. McDaid himself was the Overall Donegal Sports Star Award winner in 1979 and has also been bestowed with the Freedom of Donegal.
WATCH: Danny McDaid spoke with Donegal Daily’s Charlie Collins about his memories of the occasions down through the years:
The 2023 Donegal Sports Star Awards will take place on Friday, January 26, in the Mount Errigal Hotel.
This year’s special guest is none other than Donegal GAA team manager Jim McGuinness.
Tickets are available for purchase from the Mount Errigal Hotel at a cost of €33 for adults and €20 for primary school-aged children. Tickets are on sale now from the Mount Errigal Hotel.
For further information on the Donegal Sports Star Awards go to donegalsportsstarawards.ie or visit Facebook donegalsports.starawards and Twitter @DLsportstars.
WATCH: Donegal Sports Star Awards chairperson Grace Boyle told Donegal Daily’s Charlie Collins that the event is stronger than ever and the presence of Jim McGuinness on the night will guarantee another great evening.
Looking back on the achievements of the 1983 Award Winners:
- Kevin McBrearty – Athletics
The 1983 athletics winner was Kevin McBrearty then a member of South Donegal Harriers. In 1983 the big success for Kevin McBrearty was winning the Irish U20 Javelin title with a throw of 56.56m and he repeated that success the following year. He also won the Irish U23 Javelin titles in 1984 and 1985.
In the National, Track and Field League in the 1980’s Kevin enjoyed success with Tir Conaill AC. In a five year period he was part of a team that secured top three finishes and finally were outright Division 1 winners and gained promotion to the Premier League. Kevin was joined in those successes by another of our 1983 winners Vincent Breslin.
In 1988 Kevin McBrearty set a new Donegal javelin record with a throw of 60m at the BLE Decathlon Finals in Belfield. That record stood until July 2019 when Lifford-Strabane AC’s Gareth Crawford throw of 64.12 metres at the National Senior Championships at the Morton Stadium. McBrearty actually broke the record twice that day with a second throw of 66.01 metres.
Kevin McBrearty also won the Donegal Sports Star Athletics Award in 1984. Kevin was inducted into the Donegal Athletics Board’s Hall of Fame in October 2022 at the annual awards event in the Bayview Hotel in Killybegs.
- Hugh Doherty – Boxing
The next sport to be honoured this evening is boxing and the winner in 1983 was Hugh Doherty from Buncrana. It was Hugh’s second time to take the award having won it first in 1980. On his way to the Ulster Final that year Hugh’s heroics made national media headlines. Health and safety wouldn’t allow it nowadays but back then all was on the one day. He won a preliminary, quarter-final and semi-final contests and afterward the newspaper headlines named him ‘Hat-trick Hugh’.
In 1983 the highlight was winning the Irish Senior Middleweight title at the National Stadium where he defeated Glen Malone of the Phoenix Club. It was a close hard contest but Hugh Doherty still took the title by way of a unanimous decision. Just after that he emigrated to the USA and trained with the legendary Irish boxer Sean Mannion. He had a few fights on the amateur circuit before returning home a year later. While he says the one was not turning professional, Hugh still had a distinguished amateur boxing career that he can be very proud of.
3 John Campbell – Clay Pigeon Shooting
Clay Pigeon Shooting was an integral part of the Donegal Sports Star Awards from the start in 1976 and winner in 1983 was John Campbell from Ballybofey. John sadly passed away in October 2022. John’s son Ciaran accepted the presentation.
John Campbell It was the start of a four-in-a-row for John. He had previously also won a three-in-a-row in from 1978 to 80’. He took the Clay Pigeon category a total of eight times. In 1982 John was crowned the Overall Donegal Sports Star Award winner and just a couple of years ago he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2016.
5 Martin McHugh – GAA (accepted by son Ryan)
The winner in 1983 was Martin McHugh. It was the Kilcar man’s third successive GAA Sports Star GAA Award. One of the undoubted highlights of that year for the Bavan man was being a member of the Donegal team that won the Ulster Senior Football Championship title defeating Cavan in the decider in Clones. The other very significant highlight was later that year when he won the first of his two All-Star Awards.
The 1983 Ulster title triumph was only the third ever for Donegal. The “Wee man from Kilcar” scored 0–7 of Donegal’s 1–14 total in that decider.
When Martin’s son Ryan won an All-Star in 2016 he became the third member of the family to do after his dad and brother Mark. The Donegal Sports Star Awards Committee recognised the huge significance of that achievement by presenting Martin, Mark and Ryan with a Sporting Acknowledgement Award that year. That made it a total of five Donegal Sports Star Awards for Martin McHugh which also included a three-in-a-row from 81 to 83 and again 1985. The three McHugh men have amassed a remarkable nine Donegal Sports Star Awards.
Martin McHugh in 1992 was named the Texaco Footballer of the Year. He is also the proud holder of four senior club championship medals with Kilcar.
6 Mick McGinley – Golf (accepted by daughter Karen)
The next winner in the 1983 category is Mick McGinley for his successes in golf. Mick McGinley honed his skills on the golf course at Dunfanaghy and at the time he was in good company with future GAA star Sean Ferriter.
He would go onto become a one-handicapper and played senior championships in Ireland as well as amateur competitions in Spain and Portugal. Mick would have a regular in the South of Ireland Championships. He handed down his love of golf to his son Paul who was Ireland’s first ever Ryder Cup captain when Europe played the USA at Gleneagles in Scotland in September 2013.
Mick McGinley was also a talented GAA player and was on the St Eunan’s College 1956 MacRory Cup-winning team. He won an Ulster Minor Football Championship title with Donegal also in 1956 and went onto play for the Donegal county team between 1959 and 1961.
Mick worked in telecommunications and was head of the highly successful Sigma Wireless Company.
- Anne Marie Duffy – Martial Arts Judo
The next 1983 category this evening is Martial Arts. The winner that year for her successes in judo was Ann Marie Duffy from Ballybofey. Ann-Marie won an All-Ireland title that year and also represented her country at international level. She was introduced to the sport by her dad Charlie who was a coach at the Castle Judo Club and another mentor of hers was John Sweeney. She was the first woman in Donegal to get a Black Dan Belt following in the footsteps of her dad who had been the first male to do so in the County. Judo was a big sport in Donegal in the 1980s with lots of clubs and loads of competition. Anne-Marie Duffy was hugely successful in those years winning a couple of All-Irelands and representing Ireland at UK competitions.
- Paul McGlinchey – Rugby (accepted by his daughter Rachel)
The next 1983 winner this evening comes from the sport of rugby. And that is Paul McGlinchey of Letterkenny Rugby Club. Paul McGlinchey was one of Donegal’s finest ever players of the oval game. He learned his rugby skills at Clongowes Wood College in Kildare. When he came back home he joined the Letterkenny Club and starred as a centre for some years before joining City of Derry and later Sligo. Paul was very well known in the local community as the owner of the Golden Grill Nightclub which was started by his father Bernard who was a Cllr and Senator.
- Gerry Coyle – Soccer
The winner of the soccer award in 1983 was Gerry Coyle of Gweedore Celtic.
It was a Gweedore Celtic trip to New York that gave Gerry his first taste of life in the Big Apple at the age of 24. He decided to stay for six months and 37 years later he is still there. Gerry has been home for the festive period and we’re delighted to have him here this evening.
The midfielder was a key man in the Donegal Junior League’s historic Oscar Traynor Cup Final victory over Dublin’s Athletic Union League. It is the only time that Donegal has won that prestigious national competition in the Junior League’s 53 year history.
Gerry Coyle was starring for a successful Gweedore Celtic side at the time and that was clearly demonstrated by the club having five players on that Richie Kelly managed winning team including Hughie Rua Gallagher, Donnchadh MacNiallais, Doalty Sweeney and the late Pat Doohan.
The final was played at Finn Park on April 18, 1983. With the visitors 2-1 up in the second half when Johnny Kelly who is also with this evening equalised for a second time with Gerry Coyle providing the assist. It went to a shoot-out with Doalty Sweeney converting the winning penalty As a result of that Gerry won an international Junior Cap playing for the Republic of Ireland against Scotland. He did the treble with Gweedore Celtic in 1983 as the team claimed the League, Top 4 and the IAWS Cup.
He also had a couple of spells at senior level with Finn Harps.
- Sinead McLaughlin – Best Sports Girl Secondary School
Sinead McLaughlin was an elite athlete in that era with her school and also with Finn Valley Athletic Club. She was a national champion and excelled in the long jump and also competed in the high jump and the 100m. Sinead was a member of a Loreto Letterkenny team that won a National Schools title. In 1982 she ran a 100m in 13.90 seconds. She went on to set Donegal records in both Long Jump and High Jump in 1988. Sinead McLaughlin’s feats in both disciplines still ranks her in the top three in the County.
- Vincent Breslin Best Sports Boy (accepted by Kevin McBrearty)
In 1983 the Best Sports Boy was Vincent Breslin, Abbey Vocational School, Donegal Town
Vinny is currently residing in Atlantic City, USA. The Committee did receive a short message sent by Vinny from the US which reads.
“Sorry to say that I am not able to make it over for the awards night. Thank you for reaching out to me. Hope you all have a great evening. I will be in contact with Kevin McBrearty and Eamon Harvey when I’m home in the summer.”
At just 17 years of age Vinny Breslin was hitting the national headlines. He was the winner of the National Junior Long Jump title. He also won the Irish Schools Long Jump gold medal and finished second to the late great Hugo Duggan when the Milford man won the last of his seven Senior Long Jump titles. Vinny had actually beaten Hugo Duggan a number of times earlier that season just showing the talent that the young Donegal Town man had at that time. Vinny also won a junior international cap. A subsequent injury curtained his progress in the sport. And after going to University he emigrated to the USA where he has been residing for over 30 years.
- Eamon Harvey – Best Sports Teacher (accepted by his daughter)
The winner in 1983 was Eamon Harvey, Abbey Vocational School, Donegal Town
Unfortunately, Eamon can’t be with us tonight as he is currently in the Algarve on an athletics training camp.
Eamon Harvey was a sports teacher at the Abbey and coached both Kevin McBrearty and Vincent Breslin who have also been honoured here tonight. Their successes were achieved with Eamon’s guidance. Eamon went on to coach at international level and was with the Irish team at four Olympic Games. He went on to coach Irish Para-Olympic teams and was in Atlanta in 1996 when St. Johnston woman Bridie Lynch led out the Irish team in the parade in front of 80,000 people. He had the honour of coaching Lynch to a gold medal at those games.
13 PCC Falcarragh Team accepted by Paul Anthony McFadden
PCC Falcarragh got the judges nod after winning the All-Ireland Schools Soccer Final in 1982 which saw them go on the following year to represent their country at the World Finals in Belgium. The PCC team went all the way to the semi-finals where they only lost 1-0 to a Swedish school by virtue of a controversial goal. It was a memorable trip as PCC qualified from their group with a win and a draw. They went on to defeat a Belgium school in the quarter-finals after a penalty shoot-out. After defeat to Sweden, PCC played Turkey in the 3rd/4th place play-off only losing on penalties
14 Royal and Prior Raphoe – Best Secondary School – accepted by Principal Howard Welch
The Royal and Prior was rewarded in 1983 for a string of successes in a variety of sports including hockey and badminton along with athletic events including sprints, high jump long jump and discus. Among the names that were excelling for the school were Grace Fields, Richard Eaton, Charlie Lapsley, Liffey Roulstone, Sarah Devenney, Judy Robinson, Heather McKinney and Pauline Crossan. Among the teachers involved in the coaching end of the successes were John Merrick, Mrs Lemmon, Raymond Dunne and the Principal at the time Edward Cookman
The Royal and Prior continues to pride itself on its sporting achievements and its commitment to promoting the benefits exercise and team sports can offer their students.
Royal and Prior Raphoe Best Secondary School Award winner.
15 John McLaughlin – Appreciation, Boxing
The Appreciation award in 1983 went to the late John McLaughlin, a man who gave so much to the sport of boxing over a lifetime. I will ask his son Jack to come up and accept the presentation.
John McLaughlin came from Carndonagh to Letterkenny in the late 1930s and immediately got involved training local boxers. He became a household name in the sport across Donegal, Ulster and throughout the country.
John trained Malachy Price, the first Letterkenny man to win an Ulster and a National title in 1957. To this day Malachy Price has no doubt that the Shoemaker was the main reason he and other local boxers’ enjoyed success at Ulster and National level. In a totally voluntary capacity John juggled the demands of working hard to look after the family needs with putting in a lifetime of training fighters at Letterkenny Boxing Club. In that he had the full support of his wife Susie. Having his sons starring in the ring also helped with Jack going on to win a national title.
John McLaughlin was indeed a father figure to many local boxers for close on five decades.
16 Cyril O’Boyle – Hall of Fame, Athletics accepted by Patsy McGonagle
The Hall of Fame winner in 1983 was the late Cyril O’Boyle, an athletics legend. Born in Belcruit, Cyril won the North of Ireland Senior and Junior Cross Country Championships in the same year and also the Irish equivalents in the same year. In 1953 he won the national one-mile title and a year later added the four-mile honour to his name. Cyril spent many years with Strabane AC and and also lived in Scotland for a while where there were also athletic successes with Clydesdale Harriers.
In 2001 Cyril was ranked number six in the World in the 75 age-group 10,000 metres track ranking lists with a time of 46:54.93 which he ran in Brisbane, Australia. In the World Cross Country in 2001 he was fourth in the cross country in a time of 39:20.
Cyril was named on the Donegal team of the century in 2000 and was honoured with the inaugural Hall of Fame award in 2016 by the Donegal Athletics Board.
17 Vincent Bonner – Overall and Motorsport
The winner of the Motorsport category and the Overall Donegal Sport Star Award in 1983 was Vincent Bonner. His navigator that year was Seamus McGettigan.
The standout success for Bonner was winning the Donegal International Rally. It was very special as it was the only time that the Dungloe man was to take the title. He had come close a couple of times but a weekend in June 1983 was to change all that as Vincent and Seamus McGettigan clinched the title after the Atlantic Drive Stage in their Works Escort that had been bought from Bertie Fisher. They finished 29 seconds ahead of Austin McHale. It had been a trouble free weekend for Bonner but not so for McHale. But, still the Dub was at a stage just eight seconds behind Bonner.
Vincent Bonner’s first ever event was the Rally of the Rosses after the Donegal Motor Club was founded in the early 1970s by a group of men including Austin Frazer and Phonsie McElwee. It all came about following a conversation with Jackie Harris in Bonner’s Dungloe garage. Both Vincent and Jackie were in Minis in an event that was held in conjunction with the Mary from Dungloe Festival.
Picture Special: Donegal Sports Stars of 1983 honoured as special guest unveiled for January event was last modified: January 9th, 2024 by
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