Scottish successes at World Championships

THE recent World Irish Dancing Championships in Dublin saw Scottish schools enjoy great success once again, proving the continuing popularity of the sport in Scotland.

One such school was the Sharon Taylor Academy who witnessed student Oscar Donnelly become a four-time World Champion in the Under -14 Boys competition with an almost perfect score and one judge awarding him a raw 100 marks for one of his rounds.

“We are so proud of Oscar’s achievements,” Sharon Taylor said. “We also had two more World Medallists, Lucy Brownlie (Under-13 Girls) and Cora Burns (Under-15 Girls). Both girls are top dancers and they were delighted to be bringing the much sought after world medals home to Scotland.

“We had seven more dancers who brought home World Recall Medals, Shannon Dyer and Cara Rodgers in the Under-12 Girls, Keira O’Reilly—the top Scottish dancer—and Amelia Findlay in the Under-14 Girls, Georgia Mitchell and Orla Mowatt in the Under-15 Girls. Matthew Hughes was the top Scottish dancer in his competition, finishing 11th in the Under-19 Men, which was a personal best for Matthew. The Under-15 Girls competition was particularly special for us having three girls competing and all three recalling to the final round from more than 160 dancers.”

“We had three teams compete this year with only eight months together to prepare and our youngest team finished a fantastic sixth place from more than 40 teams and bringing home eight World Medals,” Sharon continued. “A further eight recall medals came back to Scotland with our Under-16 team and our Senior Ladies finished a respectable 15th place overall. We were extremely proud of all of our dancers who represented the school in Dublin and their hard work certainly paid off.”

Andrew Nelson—who featured in the March 2025 edition of The Irish Voice—of the Osborne Academy of Irish Dance, finished a fantastic second in the Under 11 Boys competition. Andrew now has the distinction of being the current All-Ireland Champion, British National Champion, All Scotland Champion, Scottish Oireachtas Champion as well as being the proud owner of a World Irish Dancing Championship Globe.

“We are beyond proud of Andrew—he is every inch a champion,” teacher Jodie Osborne said. “He respects the talent and skills of his fellow competitors and accepts with humility beyond his years the scoring of the panel of adjudicators on the day. He is a very rare talent and we are very excited about his future.”

Meanwhile, the Harrison School of Irish Dance saw one of its male dancers enjoy a similar result as Ethan Farrel finished second in the Under-16 Boys competition.

“We had a great week at the Worlds in Dublin, with our five gorgeous qualifiers dancing their socks off and Ethan Farrel, achieving a second place finish,” Susan Harrison said. “A surprise visit from a lot of his classmates the day he danced made it even more special.”

There were a number of impressive performances too from the McLaughlin School of Irish Dancing. There were podium places for Zara Gibb (2nd Under-12 Girls), Siobhan Boles (4th Senior Ladies) and a second-place finish for the Senior Ladies Ceili team. In addition to that, there were World Medal honours for Caoimhe Mosson (7th Under 20 Ladies), Anya Maguire (15th Under-18 Ladies) and a sixth-place finish in the 16-19 Ladies Ceili.

“It was an amazing for our school to bring home three globes to Glasgow,” teacher Sinead McLaughlin said. “We had a beautiful day celebrating our achievements in Dublin. As well as our podium finishes and World Medallists there were Recall Medals for Áine McGeehan, Teagan Giroux, Siobhan Reilly and our fabulous solo qualifiers who danced so beautifully on the world stage.”

Emma O’Connor led the way for the Caroline Greene School of Irish Dance with an amazing sixth-place finish in the Under-20 Ladies competition, missing the podium by just 4.5 points. The school only had five solo dancers at the competition this year due to injuries.

“Emma has had an incredible year of dancing and is the current Great Britain Champion and the Scottish Oireachtas Champion,” teacher Caroline Greene-Parfery said. “She has worked incredibly hard all year while juggling her degree in BSc Child Nursing Studies. We are so proud of her commitment and achievements. She also helps the little beginners at class and is a great role model for them.

“Roisin Mattear was 34th in the Under-23 Ladies competition. This is Roisin’s first World Championships since 2017 due to Covid-19 and breaking her foot twice and it is her highest placing at the Worlds. We are delighted with how she has fought back after all her injuries and her hard work paid off.”

Caroline continued: “Sarah Gallagher was 35th in the Under-19 Ladies, which was her highest placing at the Worlds. We were thrilled for her as she worked so hard. Sarah is also going to Washington to dance at the North American Irish Dance Championships in July and we wish her the best of luck.

“Ebony Nasim (Under-17 Girls) and Aimee Strachan (Under-16 Girls) unfortunately did not recall this year, but have done previously. They both danced superbly and will come stronger from it. We are so proud of all our girls and cannot wait to see what the future holds for them all.”

Dancer Caitlin Edelsten who won the Scottish Oireachtas and was 17th at the All-Ireland Championships in February unfortunately had to pull out of the competition two weeks before as she strained her Achillies and had to go into a boot for six weeks. However, she travelled over to Dublin to show her support for the girls.

Last, but not least, was the Boyle School of Irish Dance whose teacher, Donna-Marie Boyle, enthused: “The soloists and teams from the Boyle School of Irish Dance had great success in Dublin at the World Championships. The standard of dancing from all over the world was phenomenal and we were delighted to bring home eight precious World Medals and nine qualifying medals to Glasgow.”