Athlone’s Patrick Munnelly wins national rowing title

 

By Kieran Galvin

There was a great sense of achievement and celebration in Athlone Rowing Club when Patrick Munnelly won a national title at Junior 16 level at the recent National Rowing Championships in Cork.

In the process Patrick beat two highly rated rowers whom he had previously lost out to in the battle to qualify for the Junior 18 home internationals (which were held in Nottingham, England). This was surely something that made Patrick’s success all the sweeter.

Patrick also came second in the Novice (adult) category where he was competing against seasoned rowers.

The 16-year-old from Coosan only took up rowing last year and his progress was initially stalled by an injury he picked up while playing football (he has represented Athlone in Gaelic football). “Patrick showed great potential as soon as he took up rowing,” said Athlone Boat Club coach Fergus Hannon. “He is very dedicated and often trains twice a day and, even with his diet, he’s very committed.” 

“His goal this year was to win the Junior 16 national championship and he has achieved that. He’s going places and if he keeps working hard and improving, he’s destined for international stardom in the future.”

Patrick’s success was the first time in 24 years that Athlone Boat Club has won a gold medal at the National Championships. Back in 1989, Tommy Colsh, Paul Gilligan, Caimin Maloney, Timmy Donovan and David O’Brien (cox) won gold in a Novice Fours event.

Tommy went on to be a founding member of Sligo Boat Club where he’s heavily involved in coaching. Indeed, he was coaching some of the Sligo competitors at the recent National Championships.

A son of PJ and Ann Munnelly, Patrick is from Coosan and, standing about 6 3” tall, he’s an imposing figure even at his young age. 

“By finishing second in the Novice race, he finished ahead of guys who had beaten him earlier in the year. He trained very hard in advance. He pulled out all the stops and surprised a lot of people in the National Championships,” said Hannon.

Fergus was assisted on the coaching side by Robbie Donovan, and was very pleased to have Robbie on board. “Robbie has been a great asset. He has a great love of the sport and he’s very good with the lads in terms of gym work and so on,” said Fergus.

While Patrick’s wonderful success was the highlight of this year’s National Championships from an Athlone perspective, there were some other noteworthy displays. 

Conor Egan from Tormey Villas reached the semi-finals in the Junior 18 single sculls and narrowly missed out on a place in the final. Also in the Junior 18 single sculls, Luke Hannon (a son of Fergus) rowed well in his heat though his performance wasn’t quite good enough to progress. At Intermediate level, Kevin Molloy won his heat before bowing out in the semi-finals.

Meanwhile, Brian Hannon (a brother of Luke’s) and David Flynn (whose family are steeped in rowing in Athlone over the years) competed in the Junior 15 single sculls.