Two of South Pembrokeshire's Irish dancers have stepped their way to victory in one of the Emerald Isle's top competitions.

Martha O'Neill and Sam Davies, who are pupils of the Hynes School of Irish Dancing, Saundersfoot, both won individual awards in the CRN Irish Open Championships 2002 held recently in Dublin.

Nine-year-old Sageston School pupil Martha achieved joint first in the Under 10 Bungrad event ahead of over 100 dancers who had qualified.

And Sam, aged 13, who attends Greenhill School, was the outright winner of the Under 13 Maengrad class, where two out of the three judges awarded him maximum marks.

Three other Pembrokeshire dancers also won their way on to the victory stage in the awards. Sixteen-year-old Rhiannon Tebbutt gained fourth place in the Over 14 Bungrad class, where 15-year-old Kelly Russell came seventh, with nine-year-old Kira Hardy placed fourth in the Under 10 Bungrad.

The Irish Open is the premier event for CRN (Cumann Rince Náisiúnta), which is one of the top three Irish dancing organisations, and around 1,200 dancers from all over Ireland, Wales, England and Holland qualified this year.

The Hynes School also had a number of medal-winners in the feis which preceded the awards, and these were: Stephanie Brown, Sam Davies, Kira Hardy, Katie Harries, Molly Lewis, Hannah Lloyd, Martha O'Neill, Siobhan O'Sullivan, Hannah Pugh, Kelly Russell and Rhiannon Tebbutt.

Also competing were: Tess Burke, Megan Hall, Rebecca Hobbs, Jenny Hynes, Cheryl John, Elizabeth John, Kirsty Keane, Emily Lloyd and Bethan Tebbutt.

Said their teacher Julie Hynes: "All my dancers performed beautifully and I am so proud of them all. They have put in a tremendous amount of work this year to reach the very high standard to qualify for the Open, and I am also grateful to the parents for their support."