Fishers’ stand against Russians is on song

A CORK ballad group has immortalised in song the infamous battle West Cork fishermen had against the Russian Navy in 2022.

The Fógues, who hail from Mitchelstown and feature three Fogarty cousins and Ted O’Brien, have just released their track ‘Moscow to West Cork’ and it’s already proving to be popular with audiences.

Speaking to The Southern Star, Ted said they were inspired to write the song when Beara fishermen faced up to the might of the Russian navy, who began carrying out military activities in fishing grounds off West Cork in January 2022.

‘I wrote this song because I found it inspiring to see an underdog succeed over what seemed to be the entire might of the Russian Navy,’ said Ted. ‘For all the talk and diplomacy that was going on in Dublin, it was these fishermen from West Cork who told the Russians where to go. This story is so good that the song practically wrote itself.

‘One might say we were channelling the spirit of The Skibbereen Eagle in ‘keeping an eye on Russia!’

Ted said he wrote the song within a week of the events but it is only now getting released, and they’re pleased with how it turned out.

‘It has been getting a great reception when played live and I think the people of West Cork will enjoy it.’

In January 2022, representatives from both the Irish Fish Processors and Exporters Association and the Castletownbere-based Irish South & West Fish Producers Association met with Russian officials in Dublin to express their concern about their military manoeuvres off the southwest coast.

The Russian Federation then promised not to conduct its military activities close to where the fishermen worked and it avoided any diplomatic incident. The story gained worldwide notoriety.