PADDY Feen has covered more games than most. In fact, he knows exactly how many. He’s kept count.

A familiar figure at sporting events across West Cork, the Clonakilty photographer snapped his first photo for The Southern Star on April 29th, 2011.

‘It was a minor championship game between Bandon and Clonakilty in Ballinascarthy,’ he recalls.

That was the first entry in Paddy’s diary, where he keeps notes of every match he has covered for his local paper.

His milestone 1000th game for the Star was on November 2nd, 2024 – O’Donovan Rossa beat Scartaglin in the Munster LGFA intermediate club championship semi-final in Rossa Park.

While the Clon man has built his reputation on his top-class sports photography, his original interest lay away from the sporting arena.

‘I was interested in landscape, wildlife and macro photography and was taking part in competitions for a long number of years,’ Paddy says.

‘My favourite places for landscape were the Black Valley and the Dingle peninsula in Kerry.

‘I eventually got tired of the early mornings and late evenings that are required for that. I did my City & Guilds in photography in the middle of that period – the course touched on all aspects of photography, but was more portrait and studio-based.’

In early 2011, the Star advertised for a sports photographer. A friend encouraged Paddy to apply. But his initial reaction was no, feeling he had no experience of working with a newspaper.

Thankfully, his arm was twisted.

He got in touch with then-Star Sport editor Philip O’Regan, a man who knows the art of sports photography.

‘Philip was very encouraging, but I was still unsure of myself and strongly thought this is not for me,’ Paddy recalls.

‘I decided the only way to see if I had what it takes was to go along with him to a game he was covering and see what I can do. After the game I sent him the pictures for his assessment – he must have seen something in them that I didn’t.’

Since then, Paddy has become a mainstay of the West Cork sports scene, covering GAA, soccer, rugby and more.

Southern Star GAA photographer Paddy Feen. (Photo: Martin Walsh)

‘I always like a challenge and sports photography has plenty of them, such as all kinds of weather, including sunshine, and cloudy, rain, dark evenings and nights under lights. The challenge here is to produce the same standard under all conditions,’ he says.

To Paddy’s credit, he always delivers. Thousands of his photos have lit up these pages since he started this adventure. But while readers of the Star will admire the quality of his photos, very few know the hard work and talent needed to capture local sporting moments.

And he sets himself high standards.

‘As with all photographs, a great sports photograph has to tell the story whether it’s a big moment or not,’ he explains.

‘A photograph is made of visual elements such as light, shapes, textures and colour.  As regards technical details such as colour, lighting and exposure, all have to be perfect and for sports all players in the picture must be equally tack-sharp – anything less than that is a failure.’

He also has rules he follows.

‘No face, no eyes, no ball, equals no picture, the only exception – and it applies only for newspapers – is when a player is celebrating without a ball after scoring, but must be facing the camera.’

On game day, Paddy has his own routine. He’ll be one of the first to arrive at the pitch to go through his own check-list. Once he has his match programme, if available – otherwise he jots down the team lists – he will double check for changes. Accuracy is everything.

Paddy Feen captured this battle in the skies between Glengarriff's Philip Harrington and Tracton's Evan Lehane.

‘I always try to have this done half an hour before the start time as I don’t want to make a nuisance of myself during their busiest time with the teams,’ he says.

‘Knowing the players and teams is an advantage. I like to give a good balance between established players and younger players coming through.’

Then, much like the teams, it’s time for action and the constant challenge of taking quality photos. Again, Paddy delivers.

‘I never get nervous or excited. It’s not my nature. What will be will be. I don't worry about things I don’t have control over,’ he says.

‘If a special moment presents itself I’ll do my best to capture it – that usually happens in split seconds, so night time is for sleeping!’

He has a pet hate though: teams that don’t wear the correct numbers as listed beforehand.

‘The biggest challenge is players not wearing the correct numbers listed on match programmes, which leads to having the wrong names published in pictures – that’s frustrating to all concerned,’ he explains.

When asked if he has a favourite photo, it’s like asking this Liverpool fan (sports ed: we won’t hold his allegiance to the fourth best team in the Premier League against him) to pick his favourite player.

‘I have thousands of sports photos, it would take too long to select one! I give the same attention to all matches and events big and small.’

And as the county and local championships throw in this weekend, Paddy will be on the sidelines of GAA pitches, capturing the crunch moments like he always does.

His passion for the West Cork sporting scene keeps him coming back for more.

‘When it’s poor weather conditions and when things aren’t going too well, I’ll always ask myself why I keep coming back, but I’ve never come up with an answer except I’m too young to retire,’ he quips.

In 2019, at the Carbery GAA Awards, the divisional board surprised Paddy with an award to acknowledge his contribution to the local GAA scene. It’s not his style to seek the spotlight. Instead, he puts others in it, week after week on these pages.

But one of the true unsung heroes of the West Cork sports scene deserves his recognition too, for championing and capturing West Cork sport across more than 1,000 games. And there’s many more to come.