Two thousand years ago, the Wise Men also brought frankincense and myrrh – but Christmas in Moycullen was all about the gold, as their World Champion came home to a hero’s welcome.

Rowing superstar Fiona Murtagh has enjoyed a big Moycullen welcome before – when she returned from Tokyo with the county’s first Olympic medal, alongside her fellow Galwegian Aifric Keogh – but this time she was the golden girl all on her own.

That said, she shared the stage at her homecoming on Saturday with another international sports star from Moycullen.

Also back home for Christmas was Áine McDonagh, the Moycullen footballer starring for Hawthorn in the AFLW, who was recently celebrated as an All-Australian Hawthorn’s Best & Fairest Winner.

A huge crowd turned out at Páirc Mhaigh Cuilinn to meet their rowing hero, a woman who made history with her victory over hot favourite Lauren Henry to claim World Rowing Championship gold at the Shanghai Water Sports Centre.

Competing in the single sculls — one of the sport’s most physically and mentally demanding disciplines — her success represented one of the most significant individual achievements in Irish rowing in recent years.

Caption: World Champion Fiona Murtagh at her Moycullen homecoming. Photo Sean Lydon

For the full story and loads of photographs from the event, get this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.