Baltinglass Basketball & Wicklow Town Athletics Club Land Share Of €60,000 Fund

Bulldogs Basketball Club and Inbhear Dee AC named among 30 grassroots winners nationwide

Wicklow is celebrating a double. Bulldogs Basketball Club in Baltinglass and Inbhear Dee AC in Wicklow Town have both been named winners in the 2026 SPAR and EUROSPAR Community Fund.

The Garden County is one of only four counties with two winners, along with Kilkenny, Sligo and Waterford.

Across all 26 counties in the fund, 30 clubs share more than €60,000.

From Lathaleer to Wicklow Town

Bulldogs Basketball Club, based in Lathaleer, Baltinglass, takes the west Wicklow slot, while Inbhear Dee AC flies the flag for the county town.

A basketball club in the hills and an athletics club on the coast show how wide grassroots sport runs in Wicklow.

Baltinglass Bulldogs Basketball - Fundraiser Michelle Sweeney with European Heptathlon Champion Kate O'Connor

The winners were announced on 30th September as SPAR and EUROSPAR wrapped up their nationwide celebration lunches in Kildare (Lawlor's Hotel, Naas), Galway and Cork.

Team Ireland ambassadors double Olympic gold medallist Fintan McCarthy, Olympic heptathlete and Irish record holder Kate O'Connor, and World Champion Paralympic swimmer Róisín Ní Riain led the star turnout.

They were joined by Ellen Walshe, Sharlene Mawdsley, Nicola Tuthill, Andrew Coscoran, Lara Gillespie and Jordan Conroy, among others.

For Inbhear Dee, the track and field connection is a nice one, with O'Connor, Mawdsley, Tuthill and Coscoran all involved in the campaign.

Hungry for Success

Clubs applied by showing they are "Hungry for Success".

A panel led by commentator George Hamilton, who also voices SPAR and EUROSPAR's national radio campaign, picked the winners. It included representatives from the Olympic Federation of Ireland, Paralympics Ireland, SPAR Ireland and agency partners.

The fund is part of SPAR and EUROSPAR's Team Ireland sponsorship on the road to Los Angeles 2028. It is aimed at supporting volunteers, improving club facilities and building pathways for young athletes.

Elsewhere, winners range from dragon boat racing in Sligo to powerchair football in Wexford and kayaking in Mayo.

SPAR Sales Director Colin Donnelly said sport "lies at the very heart of local communities across Ireland."