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Displaying items by tag: Aoife Casey

#Rowing: Ireland's lightweight double of Aoife Casey and Denise Walsh took fifth in their C Final, 17th overall at the World Rowing Championships in Linz-Ottensheim this morning. China were strong winners. Ireland came from sixth to fifth in the second half of the race. They had the fastest final 500 metres but were held out of fourth by Germany - by .68 of a second.

World Rowing Championshiops, Linz-Ottensheim, Day Seven (Irish interest)

Women

Lightweight Double Sculls - C Final (Places 13 to 18) 1 China 7:00.82; 5 Ireland (A Casey, D Walsh) 7:10.52.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Aoife Casey and Denise Walsh finished third in their C/D Semi-Final at the World Championships and qualified for the C Final. China, Germany and Ireland held that order through the great bulk of the race, but Ireland closed hard on Germany coming to the line, missing out on catching them by just .18 of a second.

World Rowing Championships, Linz-Ottensheim, Austria - Day Five (Irish interest)

Men

Lightweight Double Sculls - A/B Semi-Final Two (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 Ireland (F McCarthy, P O'Donovan) 6:13.46, 2 Germany 6:13.59, 3 Norway 6:14.15.

Lightweight Single Sculls A/B Semi-Final One (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 6 Ireland (G O'Donovan) 7:34.01.

Women

Four A/B Semi-Final Two (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 Australia 6:25.34, 2 Denmark 6:28.58, 3 Romania 6:30.96; 4 Ireland (T Hanlon, E Lambe, A Keogh, E Hegarty) 6:32.37.

Pair - A/B Semi-Final One (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 New Zealand 6:57.92, 2 United States 7:01.78, 3 Italy 7:01.80; 4 Ireland (A Crowley, M Dukarska) 7:03.05.

Lightweight Double Sculls - C/D Semi-Final One (First Three to C Final; rest to D Final): 3 Ireland (A Casey, D Walsh) 7:01.68.

Lightweight Single Sculls A/B Semi-Final One (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 6 Ireland (L Heaphy) 7:42.23.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Aoife Casey and Denise Walsh finished fourth in their heat and qualified for the quarter-finals of the lightweight double sculls at the World Rowing Championships in Linz, Austria. The top three in the race will all have ambitions of taking a medal come next weekend: France won from South Africa and China. Walsh and Casey did enough to stay clear of Thailand and nab the final qualification spot.

World Rowing Championships, Linz, Austria, Day One (Irish interest)

Men

Pair – Heat One (First Four to Quarter-Finals; rest to Repechage): 6 Ireland (M O’Donovan, S O’Driscoll) 6:50.51.

Lightweight Double Sculls – Heat Three (First Three to Quarter-Finals; rest to Repechage): 1 Ireland (F McCarthy, P O’Donovan) 6:28.02

Women

Pair – Heat Four (First Four to Quarter-Finals; rest to Repechage): 2 Ireland (A Crowley, M Dukarska) 7:13.30

Lightweight Double Sculls – Heat Four (First Four to Quarter-Finals; rest to Repechage): 4 Ireland (A Casey, D Walsh) 7:25.62.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: The lightweight double of Aoife Casey and Cliodhna Nolan became the third Ireland boat to qualify for an A Final at the World Under-23 Championships today.

 They won their repechage. Two boats would go to the A Final, and Ireland took over the lead after 1,000 metres and refused to yield despite strong charges by Britain and the Netherlands. The Dutch landed the valuable second spot.

World Rowing Under-23 Championships (Irish interest)

Women

 Lightweight Double Sculls – Repechage (First Two to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 Ireland (A Casey, C Nolan) 6:54.54, 2 Netherlands 6:54.76; 3 Britain (1 F Chestnutt) 6:55.86.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Ireland’s lightweight double scull of Aoife Casey and Cliodhna Nolan finished fourth in their heat at the World Under-23 Championships in Florida today and must negotiate a repechage as they target a place in the A Final.

 The top two in this heat qualified for the final. Switzerland took first and Germany won a battle with the Netherlands to take second. Casey and Nolan came in ahead of Fiona Chestnutt and Chloe Knight, representing Britain.

 The programme was suspended because of thunderstorms. The revised schedule, if it goes ahead, has placed the remaining races for Ireland crews in late afternoon, local time. Florida is five hours ahead of Ireland. 

World Rowing Under-23 Championships, Sarasota Bradenton, United States (Irish interest)

Women

Lightweight Double Sculls – Heat One (First two to A Final; rest to Repechage) 1 Switzerland 6:59.78, 2 Germany 7:02.65; 4 Ireland (A Casey, C Nolan) 7:07.28, 5 Britain (1 F Chestnutt) 7:13.48.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Ireland’s Aoife Casey and Denise Walsh showed the Skibbereen skill for sprinting to good effect as they worn their C Final of the women’s lightweight double sculls at the World Championships in Plovdiv. They were fourth at 500 metres, but they sped up the rankings through the middle 1,000 and led with 500 metres to go. They took it home from there, with Austria second and Germany third. Ireland placed 13th in the World because of this result.

Shane O’Driscoll and Mark O’Donovan took fourth in their C Final, 16th overall, in the men’s pair. The race was won by Australia’s Andrew Judge and Joseph O’Brien, while O’Donovan and O’Driscoll produced a remarkable change of pace to challenge the leaders, but Poland and the United States had pushed in between them and the leaders on the line.

World Rowing Championships, Plovdiv, Bulgaria, Day Seven (Irish interest):

Men

Pair – C Final (places 13 to 18): 1 Australia 6:23.81; 4 Ireland (M O’Donovan, S O’Driscoll) 6:29.19.

Lightweight Double Sculls – A Final: 1 Ireland (G O’Donovan, P O’Donovan) 6:06.81, 2 Italy 6:08.31, 3 Belgium 6:11.25.

Women

Pair – A Final: 1 Canada 6:50.67, 2 New Zealand 6:52.96, 3 Spain 7:04.60; 6 Ireland (A Keogh, E Hegarty) 7:15.70.

Lightweight Double Sculls – C Final (places 13 to 18): 1 Ireland (A Casey, D Walsh) 7:05.77, 2 Austria 7:08.29, 3 Germany 7:09.12.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Aoife Casey and Denise Walsh won their C/D Semi-Final and qualfied for the C Final at the World Rowing Championships in Plovdiv today. The first two would go to the C Final, and it was clear early in the race that these would be Spain and Ireland. Thailand trailed this two. Spain led and looked set to win – but Casey and Walsh won the battle at the head of the field with Spain.

World Rowing Championships, Plovdiv, Bulgaria, Day Five (Irish interest)

Men

Pair – Quarter-Final Four (Three to A/B Semi-Finals; rest to C/D Semi-Finals): 1 Canada 6:26.04, 2 New Zealand 6:30.36, 3 Czech Republic 6:35.01; 5 Ireland (M O’Donovan, S O’Driscoll) 6:44.28.

Double Sculls – Repechage Four (First Two to A/B Semi-Final):

Ireland (P Doyle, R Byrne) 6:16.96, 2 Bulgaria 6:20.15.

Lightweight Double – Semi-Final Two (Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 Italy 6:21.94, 2 Belgium 6:22.83, 3 Ireland (G O’Donovan, P O’Donovan) 6:23.78.

Women

Pair – Semi-Final (Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 Ireland (A Keogh, E Hegarty) 7:14.67, 2 Italy 7:14.99, 3 Spain 7:15.30.

Lightweight Double Sculls – C/D Semi-Final (First Two to C Final; rest to D Final): 1 Ireland (A Casey, D Walsh) 7:20.51, 2 Spain 7:24.08.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Denise Walsh and Aoife Casey took third in their repechage of the lightweight double sculls at the World Rowing Championships in Bulgaria this morning. Switzerland, who won well, and Japan took the top two places and qualified for the A/B Semi-Finals. Walsh and Casey were fourth for much of the race, but passed Austria in the final sprint, though they were unable to get past Japan. Ireland is now set for the C/D Semi-Finals.  

World Rowing Championships, Plovdiv, Bulgaria, Day Three (Irish interest)

Women

Lightweight Double Sculls – Repechage One (First Two to A/B Semi-Finals; rest to C/D Semi-Finals): 1 Switzerland 6:57.90, 2 Japan 7:00.67; 3 Ireland (A Casey, D Walsh) 7:03.88.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Ireland’s Paul O’Donovan and Gary O’Donovan won their heat with a sparkling performance at the World Rowing Championships in Plovdiv. Germany’s newly-formed lightweight double of Jonathan Rommelmann and Konstantin Steinhuebel seemed set to give the Ireland crew a test, leading through half way and 1500 metres. But the O’Donovans had much better base speed and left their rivals behind in the final quarter. Portugal and Argentina also qualified for the quarter-finals.

 Denise Walsh and Aoife Casey finished fourth in their heat of the lightweight double sculls. The first two positions were the valuable ones, as they secured a place in the semi-finals. New Zealand, Australia and Canada fought it out, with New Zealand’s Zoe McBride and Jackie Kiddle  securing a clear first, while Australia edged Canada out by .34 of a second. Walsh and Casey were over 10 seconds further back.

 The women’s pair of Aifric Keogh and Emily Hegarty qualified from their heat for the semi-finals, finishing second, while the men’s pair (fifth) and double (second) will have to compete in repechages.

World Rowing Championships, Plovdiv, Bulgaria, Day One (Irish interest)

Men

Pair – Heat Four (First Four to Quarter-Finals; rest to Repechage): 1 Canada 6:20.46, 2 South Africa 6:21.85, 3 France 6:25.43, 4 Belarus 6:28.22; 5 Ireland (M O’Donovan, S O’Driscoll) 6:29.10

Double Sculls – Heat One (Winner to A/B Semi-Final; rest to Repechages): 1 New Zealand 6:02.23; 2 Ireland (P Doyle, R Byrne) 6:12.61

Lightweight Double Sculls – Heat Five (First Four to Quarter-Finals; rest to Repechage): 1 Ireland (G O’Donovan, P O’Donovan) 6:15.79, 2 Germany 6:19.23, 3 Portugal 6:21.55, 4 Argentina 6:30.24.

Women

Pair – Heat One (First Three to A/B Semi-Final; rest to Repechage): 1 New Zealand 6:56.06, 2 Ireland (A Keogh, E Hegarty) 7:11.51, 3 United States 7:13.02.

Lightweight Double Sculls – Heat Three (First Two to A/B Semi-Finals; rest to Repechages):  1 New Zealand 6:50.04, 2 Australia 6:51.11; 4 Ireland (A Casey, D Walsh) 7:02.25.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Denise Walsh and Aoife Casey gave Irish fans plenty to cheer about at the European Rowing Championships in Strathclyde Park in Scotland. The Ireland lightweight double fought it out with Germany in an exciting B Final. Germany’s Leonie Pless and Katrin Thoma led at halfway, but Walsh and Casey pushed into that lead for the remaining 1,000 metres. As they crews came to the line, cheered on by the crowd, Ireland upped the rate. The Germans held out and won by one-third of a length.

European Rowing Championships, Day Four (Irish interest)

Women

Lightweight Double Sculls – B Final (Places 7 to 11): 1 Germany 7:11.14, 2 Ireland (A Casey, D Walsh) 7:11.77, 3 Austria 7:15.63.

Published in Rowing
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Ireland's offshore islands

Around 30 of Ireland's offshore islands are inhabited and hold a wealth of cultural heritage.

A central Government objective is to ensure that sustainable vibrant communities continue to live on the islands.

Irish offshore islands FAQs

Technically, it is Ireland itself, as the third largest island in Europe.

Ireland is surrounded by approximately 80 islands of significant size, of which only about 20 are inhabited.

Achill island is the largest of the Irish isles with a coastline of almost 80 miles and has a population of 2,569.

The smallest inhabited offshore island is Inishfree, off Donegal.

The total voting population in the Republic's inhabited islands is just over 2,600 people, according to the Department of Housing.

Starting with west Cork, and giving voting register numbers as of 2020, here you go - Bere island (177), Cape Clear island (131),Dursey island (6), Hare island (29), Whiddy island (26), Long island, Schull (16), Sherkin island (95). The Galway islands are Inis Mór (675), Inis Meáin (148), Inis Oírr (210), Inishbofin (183). The Donegal islands are Arranmore (513), Gola (30), Inishboffin (63), Inishfree (4), Tory (140). The Mayo islands, apart from Achill which is connected by a bridge, are Clare island (116), Inishbiggle (25) and Inishturk (52).

No, the Gaeltacht islands are the Donegal islands, three of the four Galway islands (Inishbofin, like Clifden, is English-speaking primarily), and Cape Clear or Oileán Chléire in west Cork.

Lack of a pier was one of the main factors in the evacuation of a number of islands, the best known being the Blasket islands off Kerry, which were evacuated in November 1953. There are now three cottages available to rent on the Great Blasket island.

In the early 20th century, scholars visited the Great Blasket to learn Irish and to collect folklore and they encouraged the islanders to record their life stories in their native tongue. The three best known island books are An tOileánach (The Islandman) by Tomás Ó Criomhthain, Peig by Peig Sayers, and Fiche Blian ag Fás (Twenty Years A-Growing) by Muiris Ó Súilleabháin. Former taoiseach Charles J Haughey also kept a residence on his island, Inishvickillaune, which is one of the smaller and less accessible Blasket islands.

Charles J Haughey, as above, or late Beatle musician, John Lennon. Lennon bought Dorinish island in Clew Bay, south Mayo, in 1967 for a reported £1,700 sterling. Vendor was Westport Harbour Board which had used it for marine pilots. Lennon reportedly planned to spend his retirement there, and The Guardian newspaper quoted local estate agent Andrew Crowley as saying he was "besotted with the place by all accounts". He did lodge a planning application for a house, but never built on the 19 acres. He offered it to Sid Rawle, founder of the Digger Action Movement and known as the "King of the Hippies". Rawle and 30 others lived there until 1972 when their tents were burned by an oil lamp. Lennon and Yoko Ono visited it once more before his death in 1980. Ono sold the island for £30,000 in 1984, and it is widely reported that she donated the proceeds of the sale to an Irish orphanage

 

Yes, Rathlin island, off Co Antrim's Causeway Coast, is Ireland's most northerly inhabited island. As a special area of conservation, it is home to tens of thousands of sea birds, including puffins, kittiwakes, razorbills and guillemots. It is known for its Rathlin golden hare. It is almost famous for the fact that Robert the Bruce, King of Scots, retreated after being defeated by the English at Perth and hid in a sea cave where he was so inspired by a spider's tenacity that he returned to defeat his enemy.

No. The Aran islands have a regular ferry and plane service, with ferries from Ros-a-Mhíl, south Connemara all year round and from Doolin, Co Clare in the tourist season. The plane service flies from Indreabhán to all three islands. Inishbofin is connected by ferry from Cleggan, Co Galway, while Clare island and Inishturk are connected from Roonagh pier, outside Louisburgh. The Donegal islands of Arranmore and Tory island also have ferry services, as has Bere island, Cape Clear and Sherkin off Cork. How are the island transport services financed? The Government subsidises transport services to and from the islands. The Irish Coast Guard carries out medical evacuations, as to the RNLI lifeboats. Former Fianna Fáíl minister Éamon Ó Cuív is widely credited with improving transport services to and from offshore islands, earning his department the nickname "Craggy island".

Craggy Island is an bleak, isolated community located of the west coast, inhabited by Irish, a Chinese community and one Maori. Three priests and housekeeper Mrs Doyle live in a parochial house There is a pub, a very small golf course, a McDonald's fast food restaurant and a Chinatown... Actually, that is all fiction. Craggy island is a figment of the imagination of the Father Ted series writers Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews, for the highly successful Channel 4 television series, and the Georgian style parochial house on the "island" is actually Glenquin House in Co Clare.

Yes, that is of the Plassey, a freighter which was washed up on Inis Oírr in bad weather in 1960.

There are some small privately owned islands,and islands like Inishlyre in Co Mayo with only a small number of residents providing their own transport. Several Connemara islands such as Turbot and Inishturk South have a growing summer population, with some residents extending their stay during Covid-19. Turbot island off Eyrephort is one such example – the island, which was first spotted by Alcock and Brown as they approached Ireland during their epic transatlantic flight in 1919, was evacuated in 1978, four years after three of its fishermen drowned on the way home from watching an All Ireland final in Clifden. However, it is slowly being repopulated

Responsibility for the islands was taking over by the Department of Rural and Community Development . It was previously with the Gaeltacht section in the Department of Media, Tourism, Arts, Culture, Sport and the Gaeltacht.

It is a periodic bone of contention, as Ireland does not have the same approach to its islands as Norway, which believes in right of access. However, many improvements were made during Fianna Fáíl Galway West TD Éamon Ó Cuív's time as minister. The Irish Island Federation, Comdháil Oileáin na hÉireann, represents island issues at national and international level.

The 12 offshore islands with registered voters have long argued that having to cast their vote early puts them at a disadvantage – especially as improved transport links mean that ballot boxes can be transported to the mainland in most weather conditions, bar the winter months. Legislation allowing them to vote on the same day as the rest of the State wasn't passed in time for the February 2020 general election.

Yes, but check tide tables ! Omey island off north Connemara is accessible at low tide and also runs a summer race meeting on the strand. In Sligo, 14 pillars mark the way to Coney island – one of several islands bearing this name off the Irish coast.

Cape Clear or Oileán Chléire is the country's most southerly inhabited island, eight miles off the west Cork coast, and within sight of the Fastnet Rock lighthouse, also known as the "teardrop of Ireland".
Skellig Michael off the Kerry coast, which has a monastic site dating from the 6th century. It is accessible by boat – prebooking essential – from Portmagee, Co Kerry. However, due to Covid-19 restrictions, it was not open to visitors in 2020.
All islands have bird life, but puffins and gannets and kittiwakes are synonymous with Skellig Michael and Little Skellig. Rathlin island off Antrim and Cape Clear off west Cork have bird observatories. The Saltee islands off the Wexford coast are privately owned by the O'Neill family, but day visitors are permitted access to the Great Saltee during certain hours. The Saltees have gannets, gulls, puffins and Manx shearwaters.
Vikings used Dublin as a European slaving capital, and one of their bases was on Dalkey island, which can be viewed from Killiney's Vico road. Boat trips available from Coliemore harbour in Dalkey. Birdwatch Ireland has set up nestboxes here for roseate terns. Keep an eye out also for feral goats.
Plenty! There are regular boat trips in summer to Inchagoill island on Lough Corrib, while the best known Irish inshore island might be the lake isle of Innisfree on Sligo's Lough Gill, immortalised by WB Yeats in his poem of the same name. Roscommon's Lough Key has several islands, the most prominent being the privately-owned Castle Island. Trinity island is more accessible to the public - it was once occupied by Cistercian monks from Boyle Abbey.

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