ANTHONY LANDS BIG ONE TO WIN THE QUINNSWORTH CUP

What a weekend for sport we had with the rugby team finally clinching the Grand Slam after sixty one years of trying and Bernard Dunne becoming World Champion in one of the best boxing matches ever seen on these shores, not forgetting Athlone Town’s great draw against Limerick ensuring an unbeaten three match start to this year’s First Division, Manchester United losing again which has blown the Premiership wide open and all this topped off with a great days fishing on Sunday when Anthony Moran landed the big one to win the Quinnsworth Cup.

As usual, at this time of the year, the winds were blowing from the west which made for a cold day on the lake but that didn’t deter the twenty five boats full of anglers who turned on the shoreline eager to get going. Everybody was hoping for as good a day’s fishing as we had the previous week and while some were not disappointed there were still quite a number of boats that blanked on the day.

This was the first competition this year for which the weigh in and presentation of prizes took place on the shoreline at the compound and with the scales down at 6pm Captain of the Day Sean Kelly was kept busy weighing the fish and working out the order of the winners. Anthony Moran easily claimed first prize for his trout which was 14 ounces heavier than that of Eamon Conway and Ray Dowling who claimed second prize. Third place went to Patsy McCallan whose trout weighed in fifteen ounces lighter and fourth place went to Bernard Kelly for his trout which was only three ounces further behind. The fifth and final spot went to Leo and Robert Joyce for their trout which was only one ounce lighter.

Finally our thanks to Sean Kelly who was our Captain of The Day and his young assistant Connor Hannon for their hard work.

THE ANGLER REST CUP RETURNS HOME!

The competition for the Angler’s Rest Cup will take place next Sunday starting from Gallagher’s Boat Shed at 10.30am and finishing with lines up at 5.30pm. Captain of The Day will be Richie Fallon and catch and release will be facilitated. The weigh in and presentation of prizes will take place in The Snug with the scales down at 8.30pm sharp. For those of you that don’t know The Snug is the old Anglers Rest and it is great to see this competition returning to its spiritual home thanks to two local Kiltoom men and new owners Paul Brennan and Justin Naughton. They took over last year and have completely renovated the premises but have maintained its charm with the wooden floors and brick walls reminding us of the old days. They have added on a fantastic beer garden and BBQ area where, along with Bar Manager Clayton Good, they can cater for parties of any size and with live music on Thursday and Sunday nights and all sporting events shown on the big screen it has fast become a destination of choice in Athlone’s left bank area.

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 the local newspaper, on the Athlone.ie website and sent out to members by text message in the week prior to each competition.
29th March, the Anglers Rest Cup, trout Lough Ree
5th April, the Fallon Memorial Cup, trout Lough Ree