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Displaying items by tag: Casey

Two superb performances by lightweight doubles got Ireland off to an excellent start on day two of the European Rowing Championships in Varese today. 

 The men’s crew of Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy would go on to have a great win in their semi-final, but Aoife Casey and Margaret Cremen deserve the plaudits for taking second in their semi-final.

 This crew is aimed at the Olympic Qualification regatta next month in Lucerne and looked to be an outside bet initially. Their performances at this regatta changed that.

 In today’s semi, they showed great maturity. Italy took over early and were never headed, while Russia and Ireland tracked them in second and third. But the final quarter Ireland pushed through into a firm second place.

 Cremen and Casey take their place in the A Final on Sunday. The other semi-final, won by Britain from the Netherlands, looked stronger, but Ireland even have an outside chance of a medal. 

 McCarthy and O’Donovan were favourites for gold right from the start. Doubts, if there were some, related to the ability of the 2019 World Champions to turn it on again after effectively missing the 2020 season, such as it was.

 They had a real test in Italy, who led early and might have expected another battle in the closing stages. It never happened. Coming up to halfway, McCarthy and O’Donovan zoomed past the men in blue. They opened up the lead to clearwater and won. 

 Germany, who won the other semi-final, will contend on Sunday. However, their winning time was slower than the Irish today.    

 The Ireland double of Philip Doyle and Ronan Byrne were well off the pace in their semi-final and finished sixth. France, Britain and Switzerland got off to good starts and duly took the A Final places. Ireland had a poor start. They tried to move into contention in the middle stages but could not get a hold on the contest.  

 Daire Lynch qualified for the C Final (places 13 to 18) of the men’s single sculls, taking second in his semi-final. 

European Rowing Championships, Varese, Italy – Day Two (Irish interest)

Men

Double Sculls – A/B Semi-Final (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 France 6:10.26, 2 Britain 6:11.17, 3 Switzerland 6:12.79; 6 Ireland (P Doyle, R Byrne) 6:21.38. 

Lightweight Double Sculls – A/B Semi-Final (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 Ireland (F McCarthy, P O’Donovan) 6:22.74, 2 Italy 6:25.53, 3 Czech Republic 6:27.14. 

Single Sculls – C/D Semi-Final Two (First Three to C Final; rest to D Final): 2 Ireland (D Lynch) 7:02.22. 

Women 

Lightweight Double Sculls – A/B Semi-Final (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 Italy 7:11.44, 2 Ireland (A Casey, M Cremen) 7:14.44, 3 Russia 7:15.46. 

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Ireland took fourth in the lightweight women’s double at the World Under-23 Championships in Florida. Aoife Casey and Cliodhna Nolan raced from sixth to fourth in the second half of this A Final, which was won well by Switzerland from the Netherlands and Germany.  

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

Women

Four – A Final: 1 Britain 6:34.22, 2 Ireland (C Feerick, E Lambe, T Hanlon, E Hegarty) 6:35.68, 3 United States 6:39.89.

Lightweight Double Sculls – A Final: 1 Switzerland 7:03.83, 2 Netherlands 7:09.45, 3 Germany 7:09.56; 4 Ireland (A Casey, C Nolan) 7:15.40.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Sanita Puspure, the O’Donovan brothers and Ireland lightweight coach Dominic Casey have all been chosen as finalists for the World Rowing Awards 2018. Puspure won gold in the women’s single sculls and Paul and Gary O’Donovan won the lightweight double, coached by Casey, at the World Rowing Championships.

 Just two crews, along with Puspure, are in the running for Women’s Crew of the Year, while there are four crews in the finals of Men’s Crew of the Year and for Coach of the Year. Casey has reached the final three years in-a-row.

 The awards will be presented on November 23rd in Berlin.

Finalists for the 2018 World Rowing Awards 

Women’s Crew of the Year

  • Caileigh Filmer, Hillary Janssens, CanadaWomen’s pair
  • Sanita Puspure, IrelandWomen’s single sculls
  • Agnieszka Kobus-Zawojska, Marta Wieliczko, Maria Springwald, Katarzyna Zillmann, PolandWomen’s quadruple sculls

Men’s Crew of the Year

  • Joshua Hicks, Spencer Turrin, Jack Hargreaves, Alexander Hill, AustraliaMen’s four
  • Jason Osborne, GermanyLightweight men’s single sculls
  • Johannes Weissenfeld, Felix Wimberger, Maximilian Planer, Torben Johannesen, Jakob Schneider, Malte Jakschik, Richard Schmidt, Hannes Ocik, Martin Sauer (coxswain), GermanyMen’s eight
  • Paul O’Donovan, Gary O’Donovan, IrelandLightweight men’s double sculls

Para-rowing Crew of the Year

  • Perle Bouge, FrancePara PR2 women’s single sculls
  • Ellen Buttrick, Grace Clough, Oliver Stanhope, Daniel Brown, Erin Wysocki-Jones (coxswain), Great BritainPara PR3 mixed coxed four
  • Annika van der Meer, Corne de Koning, Netherlands, Para PR2 mixed double sculls

Coach of the Year

  • Uwe Bender, GermanyMen’s eight
  • Dominic Casey, Ireland, Men’s pair, lightweight men’s and women’s double sculls, lightweight men’s quadruple sculls
  • Jan Klerks, Netherlands, Para-rowing team
  • Laurel Korholz, United States, Women’s four, women’s single sculls

2018 Sustainability Award

  • “Pushing for a Clean Sweep”, National Schools Regatta, Great Britain
  • “Partnership with Waikato Water Authority”, Rowing NZ, New Zealand
  • “Love Where you Row”, Alan Robinson/Schuylkill Navy, United States
Published in Rowing

#Rowing: The awards season is proving a fruitful one for rowers. Mark O’Donovan and Shane O’Driscoll were honoured at the Canon Hayes Centre awards and fellow Skibbereen man Paul O’Donovan has been nominated for the RTÉ Sportsperson of the Year award. All three won gold medals at the 2017 World Championships.

 Ireland coach Dominic Casey was also nominated for the World Rowing Coach of the Year at the World Rowing Awards. Casey and Morten Espersen, the former Ireland high peformance director, were also nominated for Distinguished Service to International Rowing.

 On the night, the France coach Alexis Besancon was chosen as Coach of the Year. John Boultbee of Australia won the Distinguished Service to International Rowing.

 The Male Crew of the Year were the German eight, Female Crew of the Year was single sculler Jeannine Gmelin and World Para Crew of the Year went to Birgit Skarstein of Norway.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: The Afloat Rowers of the Month for August are Margaret Cremen and Aoife Casey. The Ireland double finished seventh at the World Rowing Junior Championships. The Lee/Skibbereen duo reached the semi-finals in Trakai, Lithuania, but while they could not make the top six they were impressive winners of the B Final, where France tested them. Amongst the countries which did not reach the last 12 were Australia, New Zealand, the United States and China. Twenty-eight countries competed in this discipline.  

 Cremen and Casey had taken a silver medal at the European Junior Championships in Germany in May. It was another highlight of an exceptional season. Ireland underage crews have been part of the general rise: so far they have taken two medals at the World Under-23 Championships and five at the Coupe de la Jeunesse, a European junior tournament.

Rower of the Month awards: The judging panel is made up of Liam Gorman, rowing correspondent of The Irish Times, and David O'Brien, editor of Afloat magazine. Monthly awards for achievements during the year will appear on afloat.ie. Keep a monthly eye on progress and watch our 2017 champions list grow.

Published in Rower of Month

#Rowing: Ireland’s double of Margaret Cremen and Aoife Casey won their B Final this morning at the World Rowing Junior Championships in Trakai, Lithuania. The race developed very early into a battle between France and Ireland, with Ireland less than a boat length ahead for much of the 2,000 metres. In the sprint finish, France could not overtake the Irish women.

 The result places Ireland seventh overall of the 28 crews which started.  

World Junior Championships, Day Five, Irish interest

Women

Junior Double Sculls – B Final (Places 7 to 12): 1 Ireland (A Casey, M Cremen) 7:38.31, 2 France 7:39.65, 3 Netherlands 7:42.20, 4 Ukraine 7:42.25, 5 Japan 7:42.85, 6 Greece 7:44.73.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Ireland’s Aoife Casey and Margaret Cremen will compete in the B Final of the women’s double at the World Rowing Junior Championships in Trakai, Lithuania. In this morning’s semi-final, the Skibbereen/Lee crew took fourth, just under two seconds behind Chile, who took the third qualification spot. Britain were impressive winners, ahead of Italy. Ireland took over in fourth in the second half of the race, but while they finished fast, they could not force themselves in the trio which qualified for the A Final.  

World Junior Championships, Day Four (Irish interest)

Women

Junior Double – Semi-Final Two (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 Britain 7:21.24, 2 Italy 7:25.05, 3 Chile 7:27.62; 4 Ireland (A Casey, M Cremen) 7:29.61, 5 France 7:30.71, 6 Netherlands 7:31.93.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Ireland have qualified for the semi-finals of the women’s double sculls at the World Rowing Junior Championships in Trakai, Lithuania. Aoife Casey and Margaret Cremen finished third in their quarter-final. Canada, who led from the early stages, won well. Ireland had tracked them, holding second from before halfway until the final stages when the Netherlands got ahead of them.  

World Rowing Junior Championships, Trakai, Lithuania, Day Three (Irish interest)

Women

Double Sculls – Quarter-Final Three (First Three to A/B Semi-Finals; rest to C/D Semi-Finals): 1 Canada 7:23.78, 2 Netherlands 7:29.52, 3 Ireland (A Casey, M Cremen) 7:30.27; 4 Austria 7:33.56, 5 New Zealand 7:36.51, 6 Estonia 7:52.65.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Ireland’s Aoife Casey and Margaret Cremen took third in their heat and qualified for the quarter-finals of the World Junior Championships in Trakai in Lithuania today. The Skibbereen/Lee double had tucked into third behind Britain, who won, and Germany by halfway. Ukraine and Belarus fought to take the fourth qualification spot, with Ukraine coming out on top.

World Junior Championships, Trakai, Lithuania, Day One (Irish interest)

Women

Junior Double Sculls – Heat Two (First Four to Quarter-Finals; rest to Repechage): 1 Britain  7:08.82, 2 Germany 7:12.30, 3 Ireland (A Casey, M Cremen) 7:16.58, 4 Ukraine 7:18.06.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Denise Walsh followed up her excellent silver medal at the European Championships in the Czech Republic with a win on the Olympic course at Dorney Lake in England today. Walsh partnered  Aoife Casey, who has just turned 18, to a win in the Championship Double at Metropolitan Regatta. The Skibbereen double rowed well in the top event for women’s doubles at this big event, covering the course in seven minutes 13.27 seconds.

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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