"Engraving on cup very hard to read," claims Founders' Cup holder

The ongoing saga of just who was the first Keelman to win the Dooagh Pipe Band Founder Members' Cup shows no sign of letting up.

Brian Gielty, enthusiastic recipient of the 2025 Founder's Cup, has doubled down on his claim to be the first person from Keel to be awarded the coveted trophy.

"I was born in Keel, and was fortunate enough to be allowed to join the Dooagh band when I came of age. At that point in time, intra-village and intra-band transfers had only just been sanctioned by the Achill Pipe Bands Intra-village and Intra-band Transfer Approvals Committee (APBIITAC), so you see, it's quite impossible for someone to have transferred before I did".

While Mr Gielty's observations on intra-village transfers were interesting, we feel that this only applies to transfers that took place since the APBIITAC was established in 1983. As intra-village and intra-band transfers are the crux of Mr Gielty's argument, we do wonder if it's worth investigating any movements prior to 1983.

The Dooagh Pipe Band Founder Member's Cup was established in 1997 (citation needed), and every year honours one member who is judged to have contributed in an exceptional manner to the development of the pipe band. The "claim to fame" of 2025 winner, Brian Gielty, is that he is the first person from Keel to have been awarded the coveted trophy. Doubts have been raised as to the accuracy of this claim, and some have pointed out that since the names of all winners are engraved on the cup, a review of those names would surely settle the issue.

As current holder, Mr Gielty has possession of the cup, and sadly, actually reading the engravings does not seem to feature in his priorities. When pressed on the issue, Mr Gielty said: "Viewed from a distance, the engravings are unclear, so working out what names are on the cup is challenging. I'll have another go in a while. I might even put my glasses on. However, rest assured, I've counted back in my head very carefully, and I can't think of anyone from Keel who would have won the cup before me".

Mr Gielty went on to say: "Think of it this way. If there isn't any proof that there was a previous winner from Keel, then there is no proof that there wasn't. Hold on, I might have got that the wrong way round".