KENEAVY MEMORIAL CUP

We have only been fishing for the Keneavy Memorial Cup since 2003 but already it has built up a fantastic reputation and as a result attracted a great turnout of twenty nine boats last Sunday. The weather was kind to us and along with a nice breeze there was some sunny spells but mostly cloudy as the day wore on but at least the rain held off and all of this meant that the best method of fishing on the day was trolling instead of fly.

The weigh in and presentation of prizes was held that evening in a packed Potter’s Bar where, Captain of the Day, Angela Sloane was kept busy at the scales and when they were taken down at 8.30pm it was none other than the father and son duo of Paddy and Alan McEvilly who topped the list with a fantastic trout weighing 3lb 15ozs. Second place went to Anthony Moran for a trout weighing 3lb 5ozs, this was Anthony’s first time out this year without Dad Tommy, and I think it won’t be the last! Third place went to Domingo and Margaret Donovan when their trout weighed 3lb and 1gram and Joe Clarke claimed forth spot for his trout which weighed 2lb 11ozs. Donal Flanagan and Des Powell claimed the fifth and final position when their trout weighed 2lb 11ozs. It was nice to see Donal and his lovely wife Camilla back at the weigh ins as since their move to Glasson it has been more difficult for them to attend so hopefully Donal will keep catching fish and we will get to see more of them.

The competition was sponsored by James and Patricia Greene and a sincere thank you to them for their very generous support; they even sponsored the pub raffle for the bottle of whiskey. A big thanks also to Michael and Sandra Costello of Potter’s Bar for their fantastic hospitality on the evening and they were ably assisted by Deckie Dockery and Eamon “Speedy” Cummins. We will be back in Potter’s Bar again on Friday 8^th September for the Annual Table Quiz which is always a great night out. And finally thank you to our Club Secretary, Angela Sloane, who was our Captain of the Day.

THE JOHN MORAN MEMORIAL CUP - Report W/E August 13th

The August Bank Holiday weekend is reserved every year for one of the largest Trout competitions of the season, the John Moran Memorial Cup, which is run and sponsored by Ganly’s Homevalue Hardware and also the Ganly, Monaghan and Doherty families. This was the seventeenth year this competition has taken place and is held to remember John Moran who passed away so tragically on the lake. With virtually all the clubs on the lake invited to take part it came as no surprise that there was a huge turnout with ninety five boats taking to the waters of Lough Ree.

The morning started out with a little misty rain but this soon cleared away leaving near perfect conditions for a good days fishing on the lake and this was proven correct when plenty of fine trout were brought to the scales at 6pm. The discussion at the weigh in revolved around the best method, trolling or fly, in use that day and it appears that practically all the bigger fish were caught trolling while the fly and dapp yielded plenty of fish around the 2lb mark.

The winning trout weighed in at a fantastic 6lb 7ozs befitting a competition of this stature and was caught by Pat Bennett and David Dolan of the Ballykeeran and Killeenmore Anglers, the third year in a row that this club has claimed the top prize. The competition for the rest of the places was extremely close with only ounces separating second to fifth place and it was Tom Farrell of the Portlick anglers who claimed second prize when his trout weighed in at 4lb 10ozs. Only two ounces lighter in third place was Oliver Fallon of Newtown Cashel Anglers when his trout weighed 4lb 8ozs and only 1.5ozs behind Oliver were Joe Carney and Des Mulhall of Ballykieran and Killeenmore Anglers with a trout weighing 4lb 6.5ozs.  The final place went to Jack Connaughton and Alex Fallon of Portlick Anglers for their trout which weighed 4lb 3ozs.

With the presentation out of the way the celebrations lasted long into the night with a live band, Mercury, which soon had everybody dancing the night away.

This event is more than just a fishing competition with activities over the three days ranging from bingo to horse shoe throwing to a children’s egg and spoon race and many more and as with all these events an awful lot of organisation goes into making sure everything runs smoothly on the day and over the weekend and to name everybody who helped out would take a full page but a sincere thank you to all those who did and especially to the Ganly, Monaghan and Doherty families without whose gargantuan efforts this fantastic event could not take place. A special thanks to Michael Ganly of Ganly’s Homevalue Hardware who leads the effort each year to ensure that everybody has a good time. We look forward to seeing you all there again next year when hopefully there will be some Athlone Anglers Association members among the winners!

THE WYKES/GAFFEY MEMORIAL CUP

The penultimate trout competition of the year takes place next Sunday, 27^th August, and will be a home and away competition. The away start will as usual be at the old Railway Station at 8.30am where Eamon Cunningham will be the Captain and the home start will be at 10.30am at Gallagher’s Boat Shed where Tommy Moran will be the Captain. The weigh in and presentation of prizes will take place that evening in the Coosan Tavern with the scales down at 8.30pm sharp.

FOR YOUR DIARY

The following is the schedule of competitions that it is proposed to hold over the next few weeks. Please note this list may change due to unforeseen circumstances, however the details of each competition will be published in this newspaper, on the posters and on the Athlone.ie website in the week prior to each competition.

August 27^th Wykes/Gaffey Cup, Trout – Home and Away, Sept 3^rd Conway/Conroy Cup, Trout – Lough Ree, Friday Sept 8^th Table Quiz, Potters Bar,

Sept 17^th Halligan Cup (Hatchery Competition), Trout – Lough Ree (Catch and Release), Oct 8^th Blacoe Cup, Pike – Lough Ree 

ShRFB reports for Lough Ree

Fishing is starting to improve on Ree with some nice fish caught on wet flies. Eoin Breheny (6 yrs), Athlone caught a trout of 2.4lbs dapping, This was Eoins first fish, well done Eoin. Seamus Duffy (12 yrs), Castledaly had a fish of 1.5lbs on a fly.