Last night it was announced that Mayobridge Band from County Down have been selected by the Ulster GAA council to take part in four of the eight Senior Ulster Championship Football Games. This is a historic announcement for the band as this year they will lead the teams around Clones before the Ulster final on the 23rd of June. This is the first time they have been given such an honour in their 41 year history.
In a statement the band said;
“This is a massive achievement for Mayobridge and has been down to shear hard work on the part of the committee and tutors but especially the band members who are the real stars of the show.
It looks like another fantastic year in the making.”
This follows on from the relationship they have built with the Ulster GAA over the past 3 years. They were firstly asked to play at the Down v Armagh game on 4th June 2017 and then last year came the big announcement that they were going to play at 4 Ulster Championship Games.
This has all been as a result of the number of high profile events they have taken part in over the last decade. In 2017 they took part in the London St Patricks day parade, in 2018 they were at the Bathgate Festival in Scotland and they’ve been going down to The Rose of Tralee Festival since 2011, leading the winning Rose for the last three years.
They’ve really been conquering the international stage recently but they also perform at lots of local festivals and really give back to the local community performing at numerous events for their local GAA club in Mayobridge.
Here’s the bands full list of parades for 2019;
Sunday 5th May Mayobridge Fun day parade followed by the opening of the new field at Tullylish GAA
Sun 19 May Championship Down V Armagh at Newry (4pm)
Sat 25 May Championship Derry / Tyrone V Antrim at Derry / Tyrone (6pm)
Sun 2nd June Championship Semi Final: Cavan / Monaghan V Down / Armagh at TBC (4pm)
Sun 23rd June Ulster Champion Football Final at Clones (2pm)
Sunday 11th August- Maiden of Mournes parade
Rose of Tralee Saturday 24th – Wednesday 28th August.