Success was as easy as 1, 2, 3 for GalleyFlash Rowing Club as they picked up one gold, two silver and three bronze at the 2014 All Ireland Coastal Rowing Championships in Waterville, Co. Kerry. Over 100 people, including both rowers and supporters, travelled to the seaside location to cheer on the Galley in one of the biggest All Irelands to date. The medal winning crews were the Junior Ladies who were crowned All Ireland Champions, the Masters Ladies and Cork Yawl Ladies who became silver medallists with the U18 Men, U21 Men and Pre Veteran Mixed picking up bronze medals. While the All Ireland would have traditionally been held over two days, a third day was introduced a few years back in order to deal with increasing race entries and soaring numbers of qualifying heats. And so, action got under way on Friday evening with a number of traditional style races including Cork Yawl, Heritage and Open Classic races. The first crew to take to the water for the Galley were the Cork Yawl Ladies, competing in the club’s timber yawl, Galley Flash II. A great race ensued between the competing Cork crews and the Galley girls turn in a fine performance to claim the silver medals in a highly competitive race. This impressive crew was made up of Niamh Hayes, MaryAnn McCarthy, Ciara Rahilly, Claire McCarthy and Julie Harrington (Cox). More medals beckoned on the Saturday morning when our Masters Ladies crew took to the water in the first of two finals to be held on the day usually reserved for qualifying heats. As with the past few years, a special rule applies to this category in order to boost the number of competing crews that allows clubs to create composite crews comprising of members of their own club rowing with members of other clubs. With this in mind, two Galley ladies; one of whom was an All Ireland final debutante; and two Arklow ladies; one of whom was a member of the 2013 Galley Masters Ladies crew who won the All Ireland; formed this crew at the eleventh hour. Given the fact that they had never trained together as a crew before the race, they performed magnificently to take second place and claim the All Ireland silver medals. The crew on the day was Tillie Jordan (Arklow), Jeanne O’Gorman (Arklow), Breeda Hayes, Sheila Hayes and Niamh Hayes (Cox). The U18 Men’s crew took to the water early on Sunday morning to compete in a category that has historically been one of the “success stories” of the Galley. It seemed that history has a habit of repeating itself when these young men rowed a brilliant race and claimed the bronze All Ireland medals in a hugely competitive and challenging category. This crew, who are currently leading the West Cork championship, is made up of John Carroll, Nicky O’Hea, Adam Ahern, Daniel O’Sullivan and Julie Harrington (Cox). Two of the aforementioned U18 Men’s crew were in action once again in the U21 Men’s race. This multi-turn race was extremely competitive with five boats in contention for the three medal positions in the closing stages. Unparalleled shouts of encouragement from the shore and from their cox, together with their steely determination, pushed this crew on to claim the bronze All Ireland medals in an absolutely breathtaking finish. John Carroll and Nicky O’Hea were joined this time by Danny O’Connor, Thomas Douglas and Niamh Hayes (Cox) to make up this exciting crew. The Pre Veteran Mixed crew, who having qualified under difficult circumstances following a technical hitch in their heat with the steer, produced an outstanding performance and collected the bronze All Ireland medals in style and were the first West Cork crew to cross the finish line. This crew comprised John Harrington, Denis O’Donovan, Donna Burke, Imelda O’Keeffe and Niamh Hayes (Cox). The Junior Ladies, who rowed a fantastic heat on the Saturday winning by a huge margin, were drawn next to West Cork rivals and County Champions Courtmacsherry for the All Ireland final in what promised to be a thrilling encounter. In a magnificent display of rowing prowess, the Galley Ladies led the race from start to finish, crossing the line several lengths ahead of the chasing pack. Cheers of “Galley, Galley, Galley” and the chorus of “The Boys of the GalleyFlash” resounded around the Waterville venue as the Galley crew came to the shore. This remarkable crew and new All Ireland Champions are Niamh Hayes, MaryAnn McCarthy, Donna Burke, Laura Connolly and Julie Harrington (Cox). In total, another thirteen crews competed at the finals for the GalleyFlash, all of whom produced outstanding performances for their club. These crews were: U12: Darragh O’Leary, Ciara O’Driscoll, Áine O’Brien, Méibh Collins & Fiona Connolly (Cox) U12 Ladies: Áine O’Brien, Ciara O’Driscoll, Lucy Quirke, Katie Hayes & Danny Hayes (Cox) U14: Gary Lombard, Daniel O’Brien, Rory O’Connor, Kevin O’Leary & Fiona Connolly (Cox) U14 Ladies: Sinéad O’Connor, Laura Ahern, Rachel Collins, Alison Taylor & MaryAnn McCarthy (Cox) U16 Ladies: Claire McCarthy, Fiona Tobin, Laura Ahern, Keri Ahern & Danny Hayes (Cox) U18 Ladies: Claire McCarthy, Eimear O’Keeffe, Fiona Tobin, Zoe Taylor & Fiona Connolly (Cox) U21 Ladies: Ciara Rahilly, Catherine McCarthy, Zoe Taylor, Eimear O’Keeffe & Julie Harrington (Cox) Veteran Ladies: Bernie O’Donovan, Breeda Hayes, Sheila Hayes, Mary Crowley & Julie Harrington (Cox) Cork Yawl Men: Danny Hayes, Sean Keohane, Ger Cullinane, Micheál Harrington & Niamh Hayes (Cox) Intermediate Men: Micheál Harrington, Sean Keohane, Mark O’Brien, Paddy Harrington & Niamh Hayes (Cox) Intermediate Ladies: Imelda O’Keeffe, Catherine McCarthy, Ciara Rahilly, Julie Harrington & Zoe Taylor (Cox) Junior Men: Micheál Harrington, Sean Keohane, Mark O’Brien, Ger Cullinane & Niamh Hayes (Cox) Senior Men: Danny Hayes, John Harrington, Paul Deasy, Dave McCarthy & Niamh Hayes (Cox) The club would like to thank all those who sent messages of good luck and congratulations and each and every one who helped in any way over the weekend. Next up for the club is the final round of the SWCYRA championship in Glandore.
Posted on: Mon, 18 Aug 2014 14:44:33 +0000
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