Two young local anglers set to represent Ireland

Two youths from the Coosan & District Anglers Association are off to France on July 4 as part of a six-strong Irish team to compete at the 2012 World Youth Fly Fishing Championships. The competition will take place in the Lozere region in the south of France, and locals Fergal McKiernan (from Coosan), and Sean Dempsey (from Ballykeeran) have been practising hard over the last year for this event. Both are accomplished anglers and have been representing Ireland consistently over the last four years. Indeed, the two 17-year-olds are both former All-Ireland fly fishing champions. Sean and Fergal will both represent the country on two separate Irish teams this year, as they will also compete in the Four Nations fly fishing competition on Lough Owel, near Mullingar in August. They will be joined on this team by two other members of the Coosan club, John Corbally and Dylan Ennis, both of whom are from Moate. This team consists of 14 anglers and Sean Dempsey is captain of the team. Fergal was captain of last year's team when they competed in Scotland. Meanwhile, the World Championships will run from July 8 until July 15. There will be a few official practice days and then the competition will run over five days, on four rivers, and one lake venue. The river sessions will take place on the River Lot (upper and lower), as well as the River Allier and the River Colagne. The species fished for will be Trout and Grayling. The lake session will be fished on Charpal Lake from boats, and the species of fish targeted are Pike, Perch and Roach. Sean Dempsey has experience of the World Championships, as he competed in Italy last year, where he emerged as the top Irish competitor. Fergal and Sean have put in many hours practice on several rivers in Ireland including the River Inny, Suir in Tipperary, The Blackwater in Cork, the Kanturk River in Cork, The Fane River in Louth, and the Slaney River in Wicklow. They have also spent many hours on Lough Ree and Lough Owel this year. Both lads have already had successful years, with Sean winning the Leinster Youth Fly Tying Competition last February and Fergal in a close second. They went on to the All-Ireland finals in March, where Fergal finished in third place with Sean just behind. The two lads also competed in the Leinster Youth lake Fly fishing competition where Sean emerged as the overall winner with Fergal in second. Both Sean and Fergal are students in the Marist College, Athlone. Sean is also a keen rugby player and was part of the Marist senior team that won the Connacht Junior Cup earlier this year. Sean is also a member of Buccaneers rugby club. Fergal also plays Gaelic football for the Marist as well as Garrycastle.