The national finals of the Community Games take place at Mosney in County Meath.
The Taoiseach Charles Haughey, is in attendance, posing for photographers and mingling with sporting representatives, including Irish Olympian Eamonn Coghlan.
RTÉ reporter Charlie Bird asks Eamonn Coghlan what the Community Games means to him? Coghlan believes the seeds are sown for the future of Irish sport at the Community Games. The games are very important for the morale of the competitors, who treat them like a mini-Olympics.
The Community Games provides top class competition for those taking part and the winners are the best athletes in the country. Success at the Games means it is inevitable they will continue in their chosen sports and hopefully be encouraged to participate in future Olympic Games.
Winning here is what it is all about and this creates the incentive for the future.
Noelle Morrissey from Tipperary, gold medallist in the under 16 100 metres, says she would love to go to the Olympics but she does not feel she is good enough. She agrees the Community Games inspire athletes to go further. Winners can take up athletics seriously and improve over time. Morrissey would love to have a career in athletics and could not imagine doing any other sport.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 14 September 1980. The reporter is Charlie Bird.
