From Nuala in Nottingham to Paul and Fintan’s dominance, Skibbereen rowers shine at world level

Ahead of the 2023 World Rowing Championships, KIERAN McCARTHY relieves some of Skibbereen Rowing Club’s elite notable moments at the highest level

TRAILBLAZER: Nuala Lupton is rowing royalty in Skibbereen. Before Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy were born, she put her rowing club on the map – Nuala was the first Skibbereen rower to compete at a senior World Championships. In 1975 she was selected on the first Irish women’s team, a coxed four, to compete at the Worlds at Holme Pierrepont National Watersports Centre in Nottingham. Nuala was the only non-Commercial member on the team. That Irish boat, with powerhouse Nuala in the second seat, finished 11th overall. Skibb rowing was now on the world stage.

Timmy Harnedy and Eugene Coakley won World silver together in 2005.

FOUR-MIDABLE: Eugene Coakley reckons the Irish lightweight men’s four that he sat in at the 2003 Worlds in Milan was the best crew he ever rowed with. Fellow Skibbereen man Timmy Harnedy feels the same. The West Cork duo were joined by Kerryman Paul Griffin and Coleraine rower Richard Archibald. Together, this four hummed. At those Worlds in August ’03, the Irish boat came through the repechage to take their place in the A/B semi-final, knowing a top-11 finish – and there were just 12 crews left standing, six in each semi-final – would qualify the boat for the 2004 Olympics in Athens. This fantastic four won their semi-final. Greece, here we come. There was no medal to show, though, as the four underperformed in the final, finishing sixth. The huge silver lining is they had qualified for the Olympics.

SILVER BULLETS: At last, a senior World medal. A day Eugene Coakley and Timmy Harnedy will never forget. At the 2005 Worlds in Japan, one half of the Irish lightweight men’s four was West Cork. Paul Griffin and Richard Archibald were there, too. The band was back together after being broken up for the ’04 Olympics – and they rocked. Winning both their heat and A/B semi-final, the Irish boat knew they were in contention for a medal. Unlike ’03 this time they delivered, pushing the fancied French all the way before eventually pipping Italy for the silver medals by just four hundredths of a second. Fine margins, but the difference between silver and bronze. Eugene and Timmy had the World medals they wanted. Eugene remembers getting back to his hotel room after the race, tossing his medal on the bed, lying down beside it and just crying. It was raw, unfiltered emotion. He had a medal.

GREEK GODS: The breakthrough moment in the rise of the Irish lightweight men’s double – then in the possession of Gary and Paul O’Donovan – arrived on Saturday, September 5th, 2015 at the Worlds in Aiguebelette, France. Olympic qualification was up for grabs. The top 11 crews would qualify for Rio the following summer. Paul and Gary were in the B final and knew a top-five finish would book their tickets to the Games. They finished fifth in the race, 11th overall – the last available qualification spot – beating the Greek double by 0.28 of a second, which was the difference between glory and failure. There was a bonfire at home in Kilkilleen Cross the following Tuesday. Little did they know what riches were to follow. That 11th-place sparked the rise of the Irish lightweight men’s double as a force.

BEST IN THE WORLD: With a freshly-minted Olympic silver medal in the Irish lightweight men’s double in his back pocket from the Rio Games in August 2016, won on August 12th, 15 days later Paul O’Donovan obliterated the competition to win World gold in the lightweight men’s single. It was a phenomenal effort, given his exertions alongside Gary at the Olympics. But Paul, wired differently to mere mortals, went to Rotterdam and dominated. He won the A final – and World gold – by over four seconds. Clear water. Paul later quipped: ‘I was looking around and saying to myself, “Come on lads, are ye going to sit there or what?” I was a bit shocked. If I had gone earlier I think I could have won by more but there was no need.’ Point proven, he was the best in the world. Seven years on, he still is.

UNBEATABLE: Shane O’Driscoll and Mark O’Donovan will never forget their 2017 international season – that was the dream year. Together in the Irish men's lightweight pair they were unstoppable, winning all five international regattas that year, including the senior Worlds that September. They had huge momentum heading to Florida, with European gold and three Rowing World Cup wins, and the question was: can anyone stop this moustached-duo? The answer: no. On September 29th, in their familiar Empacher boat that had been late arriving, they hit the front in the final 500 metres and stayed there. They were now world champions, joining an exclusive club of Skibb rowers to achieve that feat.

Ireland’s Fintan McCarthy and Paul O’Donovan celebrate after winning gold in the Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls Final in 2022.

SIMPLY THE BEST: Paul O’Donovan’s gold medal collection includes FIVE World medals – three in the double (one with Gary O’Donovan in 2018, and two with Fintan McCarthy in 2019 and ’22) and two in the single (2016 and ’17), and his success with Fintan at the 2022 Worlds highlighted, again, that this all-Skibb partnership is the best in the world. The Tokyo Olympic champions, from the same parish of Aughadown, reminded us all they are different class in September ’22, as despite very little preparation together, they dominated the field, again. As usual, once this duo hits the front, it’s game over, and they won by a boat length over Italy. Best. In. The. World. Again.