Athlone teenager is runner-up in Big Tom Song Contest

Singers in their teens and early 20s, were the main winners in the second annual Big Tom Song Contest held in Castleblayney and Oram at the weekend.

The winner of the first prize of €3,000 was 18-year-old Gareth Jones from Magherafelt in Co. Derry singing The Same Way You Came In. The runner-up, who got €1,000, was another 18-year-old from Athlone Leo Nolan singing Knoxville Girl. Third prize, also of 1,000 Euro, went to Castleblayney’s Jack Keane, who sang Back to Castleblayney.

The contest is for young singers performing songs popularised by the late Big Tom but interpreting his hits in their own style.

The runner-up, Leo Nolan from Athlone, says it was his first time ever to enter in a song contest and he was pleased to be 2nd out of 12 finalists. He impressed everyone with his singing and guitar playing and was a great crowd pleaser.

This is the second year of the event which was held in the Community Centre in Oram, Castleblayney on Saturday night. Another event at The Back to Castleblayney Festival saw members of the victorious Monaghan National League winning football team from 1985 and three of the surviving members of Big Tom’s band The Mainliners, Henry McMahon, Ginger Morgan and Ronnie Duffy, as well as singer Margo O’Donnell, getting the freedom of the town.

The week-end celebrations concluded with a play about the life of Big Tom staged in Oram Community GAA Centre on Sunday afternoon.