‘The big challenge now is three in a row. It’s never been done!’

ASK Paul O’Donovan how many international rowing medals he has won, and he’s likely to dismiss the question in his inimitable style. Ask the Lisheen man how many Celtic Ross Hotel West Cork Sports Star Awards he now has, and his eyes light up. Nothing beats being recognised in your home patch.

At the recent 25th West Cork Sports Star Awards the dream team of Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy were crowned the 2022 Sports Stars of the Year. It’s another trophy for their incredible collections, but this local recognition resonates with the Aughadown pair.

‘I don’t think anyone has ever won back to back, this is another first,’ Paul quipped, a nod to how the Skibbereen rowers are the first sportspeople in the history of the West Cork Sports Star Awards to win the top award two years in a row. 

That’s quite the accomplishment, given how ultra competitive West Cork is across all sports, but look at the heights Paul and Fintan hit in 2022 – they were crowned World and European champions, again. The best got better.

In the Irish men’s lightweight double these two West Cork men have conquered the world. Olympic gold. World gold. European gold. World Rowing’s Men’s Crew of the Year. Current RTÉ Sports Team of the Year. Now they are back-to-back West Cork Sports Stars of the Year.

‘I think the big challenge now is the three in a row; it’s never been done,’ Paul smiled.

‘The only thing that matters in 2023 is the three-in-a-row here in West Cork!’ 

The journey to the Paris Olympics in the summer of 2024 starts this year, but before that takes up all their focus the West Cork Sports Star Awards in the Celtic Ross Hotel allowed Paul and Fintan the chance to spend some time close to home with family and friends.

‘We don’t get much time at home so it’s nice to have nights like this to look forward to, and also to look back on fondly too,’ said Fintan, and Paul agreed.

‘When you are out there doing all the races and training, a lot of the time you are on autopilot, and a lot of the time I forget what I am doing it for, but it’s nights like this in West Cork with our family and friends, it reminds you of what it’s all about.’

2022 Cetic Ross Hotel West Cork Sports Stars of the Year Paul O'Donovan and Fintan McCarthy pictured with special guest Brian Cody.(Photo: George Maguire)

These 25th West Cork Sports Star Awards saw many of the previous winners invited back to take part in the celebration, and amongst the past winners were several Skibbereen rowers – Timmy Harnedy (2003 and 2005 winner, along with Eugene Coakley), Gary O’Donovan (2016), and Shane O’Driscoll and Mark O’Donovan (2017). Skibbereen, and West Cork, is now synonymous with rowing excellence, and driving that now are the current gang, led by Paul and Fintan.

Paul’s immediate focus is on his medical studies before his attention will switch back to rowing, while Fintan, who also won two national rowing titles in 2022, is busy making sure the Irish men’s lightweight double remains the best in the world.

‘Like the last few years Fintan has been picking up the slack, putting in the long miles over the winter to make up for my lack of training,’ Paul quipped.

‘There is some good competition for the seats in the boat so I will really have to get my act together once I finish the exams or I don't think I will be in the boat at all!

‘First, I need to finish my exams. Then I need to get into the boat, and then we can think about World championships and so on.’

The major international events this year include the Europeans in May (Bled, Slovenia) and then the Worlds in September (Belgrade, Serbia), and the latter offers the first chance for rowers to qualify their boats for the Olympics.

‘For us this year qualifying is the big one. It’s about ticking off little goals on the way to that,’ Fintan says.

‘We have to come top seven at the world championships this year and that qualifies two seats for the lightweight double, and then we will have to secure them next year.’

It’s the boat that qualifies, not the rowers who then have to secure their seats ahead of the Olympics. Right now Paul and Fintan look untouchable in the Irish men’s lightweight double as they put clear water between themselves and the chasing pack.

At the 2022 Europeans last August they won by almost four seconds from the Italians in second. The Worlds followed in September and the Skibb duo had over 2.5 seconds to spare over the Italians, again in second. Paul and Fintan have been dominant, and it’s for their unrivalled success at national and international levels they were selected as the 2022 West Cork Sports Stars of the Year. 

Role models for sportspeople across the region, ambassadors for this wonderful corner of the country, Paul and Fintan proved to be the best in the west in 2022, but the chasing pack of local sportspeople are keen to wrestle that crown off them in 2023. Let the battle commence.