Richard Caplice reports that, October 5th and 6th saw the finals of the European Police Fishing Championships contest staged at the wonderful newly developed Lough Muckno in Castleblayney.
A sense of euphoria pervaded the angling arena, since the event was the first International to be staged on what was by universal acclaim, the best and most beautiful setting ever. Months of relentless work by the organising committee and members of both Garda Teams meant that the championship was executed in a manner that brought many compliments from the 20 visiting teams, mentors, sponsors and indeed the general public, leaving with us a sense of great pride and satisfaction.
Ireland was chosen three years ago to hold the 2012 event and since that time many people, public bodies and agencies worked to make this a memorable one. The championship staging happily coincided with the completion of the development of the Lough into what is now accepted as the best wild Coarse angling centre of excellence, possibly in the whole of Europe.
For this we are deeply indebted to Interreg, Monaghan County Council, Inland Fisheries Ireland, Coillte, Concra Wood Golf Club, the Mc Ardle family at Toome, Monaghan Tourism and Economic Development Section under Dympna Condra, the local area engineer, County Engineer, TD Sean Conlon, Monaghan County Councillors, the County Mayor Mr Hugh Mc Elvaney. Finally, great credit is due to the developer Sammy Wilkin and his wonderful staff, which finished an unremitting development process just 24 hours before our first guests from Europe arrived to practice, on the 30th September.
Even as the developer was still putting the final touches on the work, Ireland as the host nation, engaged the visiting nations and teams with a warm welcome and in a style normally expressed by the local people, from hotels to bars guesthouses and the public in the Castleblayney, Carrickmacross and Shercock areas.
The event centre was based at the Glencarn Hotel in Castleblayney. This location acted as base for all our activities, from bait centre, to registration, disinfection of equipment (which is now mandatory at all Irish Angling Development Alliance (IADA) events) and as a temporary tackle shop to fulfill any last minute requirements of visiting anglers.
Local club members under the stewardship of Geoff Quinn the IADA Youth Officer acted as guides and stewards during the week of practice and the two match dates. During their stay, the visitors were mesmerised by the scenic beauty and degree of infrastructural development on the fishery.
Former Dutch World Champion Jan Van Schendel, acting as coach to the Belgium Team, marvelled at the whole project and expressed the opinion that it is surely the most beautiful place he ever fished and wagered that it would now be the venue of the biggest International Festival and angling events.
In this setting the twenty assembled teams commenced practice on Sunday the 30th September 2012 with the Ireland National Team of Richard Caplice, Eamonn Bracken, Donnacha Maguire Ernie Henderson and Niall McKitterick aiming to repeat the gold medal performances of the last two years in England and Holland. High water and relentless rain saw the water levels rise to mid winter levels and this reflected somewhat in the quality of the fishing, which was still good but slightly below par for the magnificent Lough Muckno.
A number of days into practice the indication’s were that the Ireland National Team might pull off the unique treble of gold medal performances but Germany, Belgium and England’s National Teams looked good also. The Irish National side was assisted tactically on the run up to the event by a star studded Ireland Select team of Peter Walsh, Rory O’Neill, Pat Bartley, Cathal Hughes (World Silver Medalist) and Philip Jackson who cumulatively have more than 50 International appearances under their belts.
Thursday night the 4th October after a wonderful reception at the Glencarn hotel where local Superintendent Gerry Russell and Inland Fisheries Ireland’s Dr Joe Caffrey welcomed all the visiting teams and nations, our computer wizard and regional team member Joe Kiernan produced a first ever, event randomised draw, turning suspense into calculated focus in an instant.
A few indifferent section selections for some of our National Team saw a mixed result on day one and while we trailed leaders Belgium National closely in Second place, we were optimistic that if Joe could do a little better on Friday night’s random computer draw we could close the gap. Try as he might we knew we were up against it when the draw was similarly completed in seconds on Friday night and while our top performers on day one drew favourably again we knew deep down from others less favourable that an uphill task was in prospect. The final day match saw all teams battle it out in glorious weather on a splendid lake, slightly out of form and it was with trepidation that we counted up in tally fashion, the great section results with those less favourable.
The result sheets, points count and final placings, individual regional and National were all complied in a splendid, timely and efficient fashion that made us all proud, by the IADA Vice Chairman Mark O’ Donohue. Ireland’s National Team despite some brilliant performances did not do quite enough to clinch gold, finishing behind a brilliant Belgium National side but earned enough points to hold off a resurgent Germany by just three points. England National Team came in fourth place and was followed by the surprise team Northern Ireland, with the team from Hungary very much holding their own, just a few points behind.
A closing banquet held at the Glencarn hotel event centre brought proceedings to a close and it was attended by over 170 people including honoured guests and celebrities. A number of prominent speakers included Mr Fergus O Dowd Minister at the Dept of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Lord Mayor Hugh McElvaney, Dr Joe Caffrey Inland Fisheries Ireland, Chief Superintendent Jim Sheridan, Mr Joe Ryan from St Pauls Credit union, Mr Mark O’ Donoghue from IADA and Mr Volker Schulze the EPFC president.
Minister O’ Dowd praised the organisation of the event and its capacity to bring tourism revenue to the region. This trend was present in the other speaker’s remarks during a one hour prize giving ceremony and highly positive commentary by guest speakers.
The minister presented the individual awards, including second place to our outstanding silver medal winner Donnacha Maguire who amassed a brilliant two day, three points result.
First place went to top Belgium angler Wesley Vander Linden also on three points and what an outstanding achievement from Ray Hamilton from the Northern Ireland team on six points who was 3rd in his first European event.
The individual discipline event results gave us much satisfaction to see Eamonn Bracken an Irish Team stalwart finally getting his reward for all his hard work in winning the individual rod and line event from a field of one hundred anglers.
The individual Pole championship was Paul Bird from the UK Eastern Team with a truly great performance and a substantial winning weight.
The Regional teams were to some extent dominated by the Dutch Regions with Team Groningen taking the honours in front of fellow country team, Team North Holland and they were followed in third by The UK South West.
While we suspected the inevitable the largest partisan applause was reserved for the Irish Team performance in coming home a short head behind the Belgium National Team during the podium call in the blue riband National team category.
In this event Belgium were true deserving winners with a grand total of 43 points followed by Ireland National, Richard Caplice Capt., Eamonn Bracken, Donnacha Maguire, Niall Mc Kitterick and Ernie Henderson with 58 and then came Germany with 61 points.
We salute our Belgian friends and commend Germany who hosts the event in 2013, when on unfamiliar ground we will attempt to go for gold once more.
Team Ireland select made up of the best of Ireland’s coarse anglers with 50 international appearances to their credit, ended on 31 points which was an outstanding result over two days and would have been enough to sweep the boards had they been eligible to be officially counted.
Ireland’s regional team of Joe Kiernan, Keith Coleman, Jack Mulholland, Peter O Connor and Derek O’Raw acquitted themselves with great credit and were numbered in the top 12 teams overall while Keith and Peter figured in the lower individual prize placing
The organising committee comprised team members Richard Caplice EPFC vice Sec, Joe Kiernan, Eamonn Bracken EPFC delegate Donnacha Maguire GSCAC Sec and they, along with An Garda Siochana wish to thank most sincerely the following who made the event possible through their sponsorship and help in a variety of ways.
Inland Fisheries Ireland the event main sponsors whose help and assistance was forthcoming at every juncture. Support came in the form of every assistance and encouragement from the CEO Dr Ciaran Byrne to the technical direction of Dr Joe Caffrey, the seamless interaction from Suzanne Campion, to the on site support and assistance from Josie Mahon and David Byrne alongside Liam Murray and his development staff.
Maver UK the Tackle sponsor of the Ireland National Team for their continued support through Mr Phil Briscoe under whose sponsorship the Ireland National squad have emerged as the number one squad in Europe..
Sensas the major ground bait company who helped us, through Mr Fred Bonnet in France and Mr John Prescott in Ireland fulfilling all our substantial ground bait needs and those of our regional and invited teams. Only Sensas ground bait was in evidence throughout and to such good effect.
Irish Bait and Tackle, through Peter and Cathy Nicholson for their continued support with fantastic live bait for all of our Irish teams.
The executive and membership of the Irish Angling Development Alliance at every level, for the months of support and assistance on and off the venue.
St Paul’s Garda credit union for their continued sponsorship, help and support.
Coiste Siamsa the national sports body of An Garda Siochana for their unfailing support and assistance.
Monaghan County Council for their sponsorship, support and help at every level, especially all through the venue development and the unremitting help and encouragement from the Tourism and Economic Development section under Dympna Condra and Dominick Mahon.
Thanks are also due to Coillte the Semi-State forestry company, for its continued assistance and help with the provision of the Black Island stretch, now complete with vehicle access and parking. Special thanks must go to them for their support for ventures such as this, in keeping with their policy of community involvement.
Concra Wood Golf club and its officers who offered help support and encouraged at all stages of the development, offering facilities and every assistance whilst unselfishly experiencing some disturbance to their own sport during our event.
The Mc Ardle family at Toome provided their continued support and assistance with venue availability of their lands as a reserve section.
Thanks are due to Chief Superintendent Sheridan Monaghan and Superintendent Russell Carrickmacross and our colleagues in An Garda Siochana local and National Units including the Garda Water Unit, for all their help and support with providing a safe and peaceful environment for our teams and visitors from at home and abroad.
The staff at Glencarn Hotel and Patrick Mc Fadden were universally praised for providing a warm and welcoming environment, by all who stayed with us over the ten day period.
Members of Castleblayney Chamber of Commerce who provided their help and support to the project and for their gracious attendance at our closing function.
Thanks also to the Hotels, Guesthouses and Bars (especially our angling base at the Old Coach Inn) that catered for and entertained the visitors, numbering around 160 during the lead up to and days following our very successful event.
The experience was wonderful and the words of praise and thanks since the event from all of the teams are testament to the hard work and energy from everyone that led to the hosting of a flawless international event. 2012 was described by the Holland based European Secretary Mr Sandro Dirks as the best ever European event.
With the World Coarse Police Angling event beckoning in 2014 Ireland must be best placed to be offered its inaugural hosting.
My sincere appreciation and gratitude to all who made this possible.
Richard Caplice, Chairman GSCAC, Vice Sec EPFC.
