You bet. The Times Square group gave a spirited performance, and the audience of parents, grandparents, friends, teachers and fans of Irish music broke all the rules by cheering and whooping as the band rolled into its last number. The judges obvously agreed with the people's choice.

Not bad for a band that just came together at almost the last minute.

Box player Blaithin Loughran explains that she and the other members, most of them from Pearl River, N.Y., were in other bands last year. She, for example, was in Glinside Ceili Band. "We all knew each other and we all knew the same tunes," she says.

As for the name, that was as spontaneous as the band's loose, exuberant performance. "It was the only thing we could think of when we were signing up," says Blaithin.

And they won even though they were not up to full strength, she adds. "Our main flute player called 20 minutes before we were supposed to go on to say he couldn't come."

All of the bands gave superb performances. In fact, as good as they all were and are, the future of Irish traditional music is clearly in good hands.

• View photos of the ceili bands
• View as slide show
• View all Mid-Atlantic Fleadh photos
• View as slide show
• Read about Philly-area winners
• Read about the bodhran competition