It has been two long years since the last Mid-Atlantic Oireachtas in Philadelphia, and the regional community has greatly changed since then. At this Oireachtas, we were able to see the effects of the different community of schools and the change over the competition drought caused by COVID-19.
I analyzed the results of all solo championship competitions (not including Adults), from Boys U8 to Senior Men 20&O, and Girls U8 to Ladies 22&O. In these competitions, I looked at which schools had the most winners, podium placers, and world qualifiers.
Winners
First, I will focus on only the winners counts from each school.
Doherty Petri held the lead with five competition wins (one boy and four girls).
DeNogla Academy and The O’Riain Academy tied behind them, with three wins each. DeNogla Academy drew forward in the Girl’s/Ladies competitions (three girls), while The O’Riain Academy held ahead in the Boy’s/Men’s competitions (three boys).
Four schools had two wins each: Schade (two girls), McGough Academy (one boy and one girl), Rince Na Tiarna (two girls), and Heritage Irish Dance Company (one boy and one girl).
The following schools also left Oireachtas with one solo competition winner, a great feat in itself: Scoil Rince Saoirse (one girl), McAleer-Paulson (one girl), Holly & Kavanagh (one boy), Inishfree (one boy), Rochester Academy (one boy), Farrell (one boy), Emerald Isle (one boy), Harney Pender Keady Academy (one boy), and Paloma School of Irish Dance (one boy).
Podium
Next, I will focus on the podium placing dancers in each competition (usually the top five dancers, unless there was less than five dancers in the competition.
Once again, Doherty Petri rode ahead with eighteen podium placers (three boys and fifteen girls).
The O’Riain Academy came next with fourteen podium placers (twelve boys and two girls), and then DeNogla Academy with twelve (one boy and eleven girls).
Behind them, many more schools held less than eight podium placers, a great accomplishment.
Seven- Heritage Irish Dance Company (four boys and three girls), Rince Na Tiarna (three boys and four girls).
Six- Scoil Rince Saoirse (six girls).
Five- Hooley School (two boys and three girls), Schade (one boy and four girls), McGough Academy (two boys and three girls), Inishfree (three boys and two girls), Rochester Academy (three boys and two girls).
Four- Coyle (two boys and two girls).
Three- Francis & Mauriello (three girls), McDade-Cara (one boy and two girls), O’Malley (three boys), Paloma School of Irish Dance (three boys).
Two- An Clar (two girls), Marie Moore (two girls), Flynn (two girls), McAleer-Paulson (two girls), Emerald Isle (two boys).
One- Mulvihill-Lynch (one girl), Short (one girl), Ryan Kilcoyne (one girl), Golding Academy (one girl), Harper Academy (one girl), Holly & Kavanagh (one boy), Donny Golden (one boy), O’Sullivan (one boy), The Irish Dance Company (one boy), Early-McLoughlin (one boy), Farrell (one boy), Goodwin (one boy), Lenehan School (one boy), Johnston (one boy), Kotelnicki (one boy), Harney Pender Keady Academy (one boy), Harper Academy (one girl), Jordan Hunt (one boy).
World Qualifiers
Finally, I have rounded up the amount of world qualifier each dance school left the Oireachtas with.
Doherty Petri left with twenty world qualifiers (three boys and seventeen girls), and DeNogla Academy with fifteen world qualifiers (fifteen girls).
Inishfree (four boys and seven girls) and The O’Riain Academy (six boys and five girls) both left with eleven world qualifiers.
Scoil Rince Saoirse had ten world qualifiers (ten girls).
These are the following counts for the remaining schools with world qualifiers.
Eight- Rince Na Tiarna (three boys and five girls), Rochester Academy (three boys and five girls), Heritage Irish Dance Company (three boys and five girls), McDade-Cara (eight girls).
Seven- Schade (one boy and six girls).
Six- Francis & Mauriello (six girls).
Five- Hooley School (one boy and four girls), McGough Academy (two boys and three girls), Kotelnicki (one boy and four girls), Coyle (one boy and four girls), Marie Moore (five girls), Mulvihill-Lynch (five girls).
Four- Flynn (four girls).
Three- O’Malley (three boys), Goodwin (one boy and two girls), Emerald Isle (two boys and one girl).
Two- Donny Golden (one boy and one girl), An Clar (two girls), Boland (two girls), Paloma School of Irish Dance (two boys), Rince Na Sonas (two girls).
One- Holly & Kavanagh (one boy), Jamieson (one boy), O’Sullivan (one boy), The Irish Dance Academy (one boy), Early-McLoughlin (one boy), Farrell (one boy), Lenahan School (one boy), Johnston (one boy), Shea-Jennings (one girl), Carle (one girl), Clann Na Cara (one girl), Short (one girl), Harney Pender Keady (one girl), Jordan Hunt (one girl), Ryan Kilcoyne (one girl), Golding Academy (one girl), McAleer-Paulson (one girl).
Hopefully this analysis was helpful and interesting to you and the Irish dance community. Roll on 2022!
