UCD Senior Men’s Eight put on a powerful performance to beat Trinity in this year’s Gannon Cup on Saturday evening (22nd March).
The race is part of the annual Colours Boat Rowing Races between Trinity and UCD, which takes place through Dublin City Centre on the River Liffey from O’Connell Bridge to Victoria Quay.
UCD Senior Men's Eight out ahead in the Gannon Cup Photo: Ray McManus
The win was UCD Senior Men’s fourth in a row and levels the historic Gannon Cup series at 37 wins each for UCD and Trinity. UCD went off strong from the start and took an early lead, before continuing to pull away from Trinity and finishing ahead by a distance.
UCD Senior Women’s Eight won the Corcoran Cup, also for the fourth year in the row, beating Trinity Senior Women’s Eight by four lengths. The two crews were close off the start, but UCD took the lead and rowed strongly over the second half of the race to remain in control at the finish.
The UCD Senior Women's team, far right, Bow, Alison Daly, Eimear Muldoon, Sarah Butler, Dervila O’Brien, Tara Phelan, Aoife Feeley, Niamh Campbell, Stroke Lauryn Roche and Cox Neasa Farrell contest the Corcoran Cup against the The Trinity College Senior Women's team during the 75th annual Colours Boat Race between UCD and Trinity College on the River Liffey in Dublin. Photo by Shauna Clinton
In the Dan Quinn Shield for Novice Men’s Eights, Trinity took their fifth consecutive win, opening up a length’s lead early on and building on that to finish in front by three lengths.
Trinity also won the Women’s Novice Eights race taking home the Sally Moorhead Trophy thanks to a spectacular finish. UCD led by almost a length for most of the race, but Trinity remained in contact and coming into the last 400 metres, launched a major push that took them level and then through UCD to win by half a length.
This year’s Colours Boat Races marked the 75th edition of the historic Gannon Cup for Senior Men’s Eights and the 44th edition of the Corcoran Cup for Senior Women’s Eights.
Olympic bronze medalist Daire Lynch rowed in the 7 seat for the winning UCD Senior Men’s crew.
Lynch, 26 and from Clonmel in Co Tipperary won bronze for Ireland in the Men’s Double Sculls with Phiip Doyle at the 2024 Paris Olympics. The two also won bronze in the same event at the 2023 World Rowing Championships in Belgrade. Lynch, who remains part of the Irish rowing squad, studied economics at Yale University in Connecticut in the US, but is now studying medicine in UCD.
The Colours Boat Races is an annual event and includes four races in total with crews from Trinity College Dublin and UCD racing head-to-head over 2 kms upstream and under eight bridges from the starting line at O’Connell Bridge to the finish at Victoria Quay.
The Gannon Cup, for Senior Men’s Eights has been raced since 1947, with the exception of four years, two in the 1950s (1957 and 1958) and two more recently due to Covid restrictions (2020 and 2021). Both UCD and Trinity now have 37 wins each. There has been one dead heat in 1950.
The Corcoran Cup was originally a Senior Women’s Coxed Four event, but evolved into an Eights race in 1993, due to increased participation by women in rowing throughout the country at this time. UCD has now recorded 27 wins in total while Trinity has 17.
The Colours Boat Races began in 1947 when the Gannon Cup was presented in memory of UCD Boat Club Captain Ciaran Gannon who was killed while on active service with the Royal Army Medical Corps in Burma in 1944.
Since then the list of races has expanded to include the Corcoran Cup in 1980, the Dan Quinn Shield for Novice Men’s Eights in 2004 and the Sally Moorhead Trophy for Novice Women’s Eights in 2005.
Crews
Gannon Cup/ Men’s Senior Eights
UCD Senior Men’s Eight: Dach Murray (Stroke), Daire Lynch (7), Ross Mason (6), Paul Flood (5), Ciarán Conway (4), Andrew O’Leary (3), David Ross-Chu, (2), Eoin McGrath (Bow), Rhian Nelson (Cox).
Trinity Senior Women’s Eight: George Roberts (Stroke), Michael Cusick (7), Ethan Coplan (6), Henry Beer (5), Ben Reid (4), Ben Hendricks (3), Cormac Feely (2), Pearce Mooney (Bow), James O’Brien (Cox).
Corcoran Cup/Women’s Senior Eights
Trinity Women’s Senior Eight: Addy Telzrow (Stroke), Maria Mezquita Garcia-Poggio (7), Imogen Cooney (6), Grace Healy (5), Caoimhe Keller (4), Jen Forde (3), Sarah Tavey (2), Izzy Howley (Bow), Ashla Copeland (Cox).
UCD Senior Women’s Eight: Lauryn Roche (Stroke), Niamh Campbell (7), Aoife Feeley (6), Tara Phelan (5), Dervila O’Brien (4), Sarah Burtler (3), Eimear Muldoon (2), Alison Daly (Bow), Neasa Farrell (Cox).
Dan Quinn Shield (Men’s Novice Eights)
UCD Men’s Novice Eight: Jack Hanson (Stroke), Conal Irvine (7), Conor MacCarthy (6), Ross Winship (5), Jack Kelly (4), Sean Flaherty (3). Adam Nolan (2), Sam Delahunty (Bow), Orla Whelton (Cox).
Trinity Men’s Novice Eight: Darragh Robinson (Stroke), Dara McGinley (7), Sebastian Walker (6), Jake Zmarzly (5), Garbhan Healy (4), Gabriel Goeller (3), Arthur Grigg (2), Will Carkner (Bow), Mila Graham (Cox).
Sally Moorhead Trophy (Women’s Novice Eights)
Trinity Women’s Novice Eight: Sarah Geoghean (Stroke), Mae Schwainger (7), Tilly Osborne (6), Saidbhe O’Rourke (5), Emilia Roder (4), Anne Venables (3), Lisa Spainer (2), Katie Daly (Bow), Ava Dolan (Cox).
UCD Women’s Novice Eight: Leonore Church (Stroke), Evie Jennings (7), Kate O’Doherty (6), Martina D’Amico (5), Aoife Rendu (4), Isabelle Devitt (3), Kate Ormsby (2), Carrie Savage (Bow), Jessica Chamberlain (Cox)
