On Sunday last, members and supporters of Muckross Rowing Club gathered at the club’s boathouse to celebrate and honour the achievements of two club members, Daniel Daly and Caoimhe O’Sullivan, who were both among the Irish squad at this year’s Home International Regatta.

The Home International Regatta is the Triple Crown event of rowing, bringing together the rowing federations of Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales for an annual regatta.
The venue for the regatta rotates between the four countries and this year, Ireland played host to the regatta at Lough Rynn in County Leitrim in July.

Daniel Daly, from Mangerton Road in Muckross and son of Sean and Breeda Daly, was selected as one of just four athletes in the Irish Junior Mens sculling group and raced in two categories at the Homes Regatta – the Mens Junior Quadruple Sculls and Junior Double.

Dan secured silver medals in both events ahead of the competition from Wales and Scotland with the English crews securing gold.

The silver medals topped an already successful year for Daniel, who also raced to silver with the Muckross club at the Irish Rowing Championships also held in July.

At the national regatta in Cork, Daniel raced in the Muckross Mens Junior Quad, which finished second – the highest placing for Muckross RC in the J18 Quad Championship event.
Daniel also picked up a bronze medal for the club in the final of the Mens Junior Double.

Caoimhe O’Sullivan, from Headford and daughter of Micheal O’Suilleabhain and Liz Healy, now races with University of Limerick RC following her junior years with the Muckross club.
Caoimhe was selected as part of the Irish Senior Womens squad for the Homes regatta in July. Caoimhe was a silver medallist as part of the Irish Womens Senior Four crew and third as part of the Womens Eight.

It is not the first green jersey for Caoimhe however, whose Senior selection for Ireland follows her participation as a Junior 19 rower in the 2021 Coupe de la Jeunesse Regatta for European junior rowers. With UL Rowing Club, Caoimhe has also enjoyed a particularly successful year in 2023, winning national titles at the Irish Championships including the Womens Senior Eight, Intermediate Eight and Intermediate Four.

Dan and Caoimhe join a proud list of Muckross rowers who have achieved selection for the national squad. Dan becomes the ninth male member of the club since 1996 to race at the Home Internationals while Caoimhe is the club’s 20th female representative since its first in 1997.

Caoimhe is also just the third female member of the club to have rowed at Senior level at the Home International Regatta.

Uniquely, Caoimhe becomes the first female Muckross rower to have rowed at both Junior and Senior level in the competition.

Closer to home, Daniel and Caoimhe both also earned gold medals for the club at the historic Killarney Regatta in June – Killarney’s oldest sporting contest which lies at the heart of the town’s rowing tradition.
The Muckross club has built a strong platform for young rowers to reach the national and international stage. Since the mid-1990s, club members have gone on to compete at numerous international events including the Coupe de la Jeunesse, European U23 Championships, World Cup Regattas, Henley Royal Regatta and World Championships. The club is also home to Killarney’s trio of former Olympic rowers – Paul Griffin (2008, 2012), Sean Casey (2012) and Cathal Moynihan (2012).