National award for County Longford students at Enterprise Finals

Ireland’s finest young student entrepreneurs celebrated at National Finals

Press Release: Monday, 18 May 2026
 

Students from County Longford have taken third prize in the Intermediate category and the Junior Sustainability Award at this year’s Student Enterprise Programme National Finals.  The Finals of the Local Enterprise Office initiative took place recently in Mullingar.
Supported by Local Enterprise Office, Longford students from Moyne Community School won third prize in the Intermediate category while the Junior category Sustainability Award went to Ardscoil Phadraig, Granard. The winning students were: Martinss Martinsons, Moyne CS and James Denneny, Ardscoil Phadraig, Granard who worked under the guidance of their teachers, Padraig Doherty and Linda Reilly respectively. Their student enterprise was called: Fern & Foam and Boot Buddy. Fern & Foam is a homemade soap made with mostly recycled materials and Boot Buddy is a novel football boot drying rack upcycled form building material. 
The event was hosted by broadcasters Rick O’Shea and Ruth Scott, and they were joined during the ceremony by Alan Dillon, T.D., Minister of State for Employment, Small Business and Retail to announce the winners across the three main categories on the day.  
Alan Dillon, T.D., Minister of State for Employment, Small Business and Retail, said, “This is one of the great days for Irish entrepreneurship in the country.  We get a chance to see almost 90 businesses started by secondary school students from across the country who have all been shortlisted for the finals and that in itself is an amazing achievement from the 30,000 pupils who started last September.
“These are students who have come up with brilliant ideas and forged them into businesses, making sales and understanding and learning the skills it takes to become an entrepreneur.  No matter what path they choose in life those skills will stand by them but we hope that many of the students we see today will go on to become the start-up leaders and entrepreneurs of the future in this country.”
Cathaoirleach of Longford County Council, Cllr Garry Murtagh said, “This is a proud day for County Longford. These young people have shown imagination, care for the environment and a strong work ethic. Their success reflects well on their families, schools and communities, and it is encouraging to see such great entrepreneurial talent coming through at local level.”
Deputy Chief Executive of Longford County Council, John Brannigan said, “This national recognition is a great credit to the students, their teachers and their schools. It shows the strength of enterprise education in County Longford and the value of encouraging young people to think creatively, act responsibly and believe in their own ideas. These students have shown what can be achieved with commitment, support and hard work, and the Council is proud of their success.”
There were 88 student businesses in contention across three main categories for the Final in what is Ireland’s largest entrepreneurship programme for second level students.  The initiative, funded by the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, through Enterprise Ireland and delivered by the 31 Local Enterprise Offices in local authorities throughout the country, saw over 30,000 students from 500 secondary schools across the country take part.
Head of Enterprise and Longford County Council Michael Nevin said, “Year on year the Student Enterprise Programme continues to showcase the very best of innovation and entrepreneurship amongst our secondary school students. We see every year that the National Finals are not an end point for our student entrepreneurs, but a stepping stone on the next stage of their entrepreneurial journey. From our class of 25/26 we hope to see some of our next great wave of County Longford business leaders and global entrepreneurs emerge.” 
The National Final students, who competed across three categories, Junior, Intermediate and Senior, were all in attendance on the day exhibiting their businesses which were judged by a team of national businesses experts and mentors.  Each student enterprise was challenged with creating, setting up and running their own business, which must show sales of their service or product.   The judging panel included business owners and representatives from enterprise agencies and associated bodies.   
The Student Enterprise Programme is open to students of all ages at secondary level, with three separate categories - Junior (1st year), Intermediate (2nd and 3rd year) and Senior (4th, 5th and 6th year, LVA, LCA and Youth Outreach).
The three main category winners on the day were: ‘GloHurling’ set up by Cathal Sweeney from Mungret Community College, representing Local Enterprise Office Limerick (Senior Category Winner), ‘Smart Shovel’, a business set up by Aodhan Finegan and Leon Egan from St. Patrick’s Classical School Navan representing Local Enterprise Office Meath (Intermediate Category Winner), and ‘I Can’ set up by Paddy Lynch and Tom McDonald from St. Mary’s CBS, Portlaoise representing Local Enterprise Office Laois (Junior Category Winner).
The second Student Enterprise Programme Alumni Award was also presented to Jordan Casey Co-Founder and CEO of Mindpath, a digital mental health service focused on ADHD and Autism.   Casey took part in the Student Enterprise Programme in first year of secondary school with his business Casey Games and he was Europe’s youngest IOS developer when he launched his first game on iTunes as a teenager.    
The Student Enterprise of the Year for 2025 was ‘Cannon PC’ from Clonkeen College, Dun Laoghaire in County Dublin.  The start-up, created by student Jack Cannon, built upcycled high speed gaming PCs from old PCs being disposed of in office clear outs and for general sale online.   Cannon PC achieved €40,000 in sales while also saving 1,000kgs of e-waste every year.
The Student Enterprise Programme is funded by the Government of Ireland through Enterprise Ireland and delivered by the 31 Local Enterprise Offices in local authorities throughout the country.  Since the Student Enterprise Programme began in 2003, over 500,000 students have taken part, learning key skills on how to create a business idea, start a business and grow a business. 
The Student Enterprise Programme is one of a number of initiatives that the Local Enterprise Offices run, to foster entrepreneurship across the country. Others include Local Enterprise Week, the National Enterprise Awards, National Women’s Enterprise Day and Local Enterprise Showcase. The Local Enterprise Offices in local authorities are funded by the Government of Ireland through Enterprise Ireland.