Monster Bingo
When: Sunday 15 November 2026, 3pm · Celtic Ross Hotel, Rosscarbery
Rowing at Rosscarbery
High Performance
For rowers with the ambition and commitment to go further, the club is a first step on the pathway to national and international competition.
Rosscarbery rowers have been selected for Rowing Ireland training and have represented Ireland abroad. This page explains how the pathway works and celebrates those who have taken it.
- Governing body
- Rowing Ireland
- Selection
- Trials and qualifier regattas
- Pathway
- Club → Junior → U23 → Senior
- Formats
- Classic, offshore, beach sprints
The Rowing Ireland pathway
Rowing Ireland selects the Irish teams. Its pathway leads from clubs like ours through junior (under-19) and under-23 levels towards senior international racing.
For beach sprints, where most of our international rowers have raced, the main events are:
- Home International Beach Sprints: junior, under-23 and senior races against England, Scotland and Wales. In 2026 an inclusion mixed double, with one para rower and one able-bodied rower in the boat, was raced for the first time.
- Coupe de la Jeunesse Beach Sprint: the European regatta for juniors.
- European Rowing Beach Sprint Championships: two categories, under 19 (junior) and senior.
- World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals: two categories, under 19 (junior) and senior.
In classic river rowing, the junior pathway runs through the Coupe de la Jeunesse and the Junior World Championships to the Under-23 and senior World Championships and the Olympic Games.
How selection works
- Trials and assessments: athletes are selected against published standards and selection policies, which Rowing Ireland updates each season.
- Beach sprint selection: Irish beach sprint crews are chosen through qualifier regattas under Rowing Ireland's beach sprint selection policy.
- Club entry: the club secretary enters crews for qualifiers on the Rowing Ireland tracker, so talk to your coach early.
- Costs: selected athletes are often asked to contribute towards travel and accommodation, which is one reason athlete sponsorship matters so much.
Offshore and classic rowing
- Home International Regatta: Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales race each year in classic rowing; the beach sprint edition began in 2022.
- World Rowing Coastal Championships and European Rowing Coastal Championships for offshore (coastal) boats.
Wearing the green
Rosscarbery rowers on the international stage
- 2021: Kealan Mannix won the men's single at the Irish Offshore Rowing Championships, then raced for Ireland at the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals and the World Rowing Coastal Championships in Portugal, reaching the A final.
- 2022: Kealan Mannix raced for Ireland at the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals.
- 2023: Finnian Mannix and Grace Hurley raced for Ireland in the junior mixed double at the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals in Barletta, Italy, where Kealan Mannix also raced for Ireland.
- 2023: Jack Hehir and Seleena Connolly raced for Ireland in the junior mixed double at the Coupe de la Jeunesse Beach Sprint in Donoratico, Italy.
- 2024: Jack Hehir won the junior men's single and, with Grace Masterson of Donegal Bay Rowing Club, the junior mixed double at the Irish Beach Sprint Qualifiers. He went on to race for Ireland in the junior men's single at the European Rowing Beach Sprint Championships in Gdańsk, Poland, in the single and the mixed double at the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals in Genoa, Italy, and in the mixed double at the Coupe de la Jeunesse Beach Sprint in Spain.
- 2025: Gabrielle O'Donoghue (junior women's single) and Jack Hehir (junior men's single) raced for Ireland at the Home International Beach Sprints in Donegal, where Jack won the junior men's single.
- 2025: Gabrielle O'Donoghue raced for Ireland in the junior women's double at the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals in Turkey, with club coach Jeff O'Donoghue part of the Irish support team.
- 2025: Emma Crowley raced for Ireland in the junior women's single at the 2025 Coupe de la Jeunesse Beach Sprint in Spain.
- 2026: Gabrielle O'Donoghue and Jack Hehir raced for Ireland at the Home International Rowing Beach Sprints at Nairn, Scotland, with club coaches Jeff O'Donoghue as Team Ireland head coach and Martin Hehir as team manager. Gabrielle finished fourth in the junior women's single time trial (bad weather stopped the head-to-head racing), and Jack and Tara Payne of Fermoy Rowing Club missed gold in the under-23 mixed double by just 0.3 seconds.
National champions
- Irish Offshore Rowing Champions: men's single 2020 and 2021; mixed double 2020 and 2023.
- Irish Beach Sprint Qualifier winners: men's single 2021, 2022 and 2023; junior men's single 2024; junior mixed double (with Donegal Bay RC) 2024.
- Plus decades of national titles in coastal rowing. See the full Roll of Honour.
High Performance at the club
High Performance at Rosscarbery is built on commitment over time. Rowers who have shown real dedication through their junior years start to get extra focus from around the under-16 age group.
When their coaches feel they are ready, they are entered for Rowing Ireland trials. They may be young for some of those events, but the experience is invaluable: by the time they reach under-18 level they know what trials and international racing involve, and they have a real chance of selection.
Our coaches bring international experience too. Jeff O'Donoghue and Martin Hehir were selected as Team Ireland head coach and team manager for the 2026 Home International Beach Sprints, a reflection of years of dedication and involvement in beach sprints, and of the success Rosscarbery rowers have had in recent seasons.
Want to know more? Talk to your coach, or get in touch.
Coming up
Annual General Meeting
When: Monday 16 November 2026, 8pm · The Hall, Reenascreena, P85 VY19
Swift Racing Junior Championships (coastal sculling)
ProvisionalWhen: Saturday 24 July 2027
[venue to be confirmed]
Entry deadline: Thursday 15 July, 7pm (Rowing Ireland tracker). How entries work
Sponsor an athlete
Representing Ireland comes with real costs for our athletes and their families. Sponsoring a rower or crew helps them take their place on the start line.
