DOMINIC Casey was named coach of the year at the 2025 Team Ireland Olympic Sport Awards.

The Skibbereen rowing guru is no stranger to accolades, having previously won both the World Rowing Coach of the Year (2018) and RTÉ Sports Manager of the Year (2021) awards.

Now Casey has brought another award home to West Cork after he was honoured at the 2025 Team Ireland Olympic Sport Awards held at the The Royal Convention Centre in Dublin.

Dominic Casey makes his way to the stage to collect the Coach of the Year award. (Photo: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile)

In his role with Rowing Ireland, Casey has ensured a constant supply of medals – including three Olympic medals – and this past year was no different. As Rowing Ireland’s High Performance Lead Coach, the Skibb man played a key role in more success on the water in 2025 – Fintan McCarthy and Mags Cremen’s World gold in the mixed double sculls, Fintan McCarthy and Philip Doyle’s World bronze in the men’s double sculls, Fiona Murtagh’s historic World gold in the women’s single sculls, as well as European and World Cup medals.

There was success, too, at the awards for Fintan McCarthy who, along with Philip Doyle, won the Team of the Year. Together, they rowed to bronze in the men’s double at the World Rowing Championships in Shanghai, a notable result for two-time Olympic lightweight gold winner Fintan in his first year at heavyweight level. Fintan was also shortlisted for the Male Athlete of the Year Award that was won by US Masters champion Rory McIlroy.

Speaking to The Southern Star for our 2025 Sports Review – out on New Year’s Eve – Fintan admitted that slotting into a double with someone other than Paul O’Donovan has been a learning curve this year. Together, Paul and Fintan were in the lightweight double for five years (2019 to 2024), but with Paul focussing on the work this year, Fintan has partnered both Konan Pazzaia and Philip Doyle.

Fintan McCarthy, right, and Philip Doyle with their Team of the Year Award. (Photo: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile)

‘Just around training philosophies, and regattas, and racing, that has been where it’s been the most tricky, just to learn a new person’s routines, how they like to race, how they approach racing and training – that is where the differences lie,’ Fintan says.

‘When me and Paul were in a good groove, we were pretty aligned and pretty similar in all those things, so it’s been interesting to row with guys who come from different systems, and who have a different bank of training, different racing experiences.

‘The challenge is to stay unbiased and try to learn from them too. It would be very easy to say “this is how me and Paul did it”.

‘It's been tricky, but also informative and fun.’