The All-Ireland Open Shore competition was held in Renvyle, Connemara on the 24th September. Fishign for the prestigious Jimmy Smith (senior) and Maurice Dalton (junior) trophies has always been fiercely competitive, and so it proved again this year.
A beautiful evening saw lines in at 6pm, with the last 3 hours of the competition in darkness. Fishing was in two zones, Renvyle and Glassilaun beaches due to the large entry, with the better fishing definitely to be had on Glassilaun. That’s the luck of the draw, and your correspondent drew… poorly! A last cast dogfish saved the blank here!
Th competition this year was organised, and well-run by Galway Bay SAC. The club put together a little video of the evening, which can be viewed on their Facebook page, or just click the image below to go there.
Results
Zone A (Renvyle) was won by Stephen O’Donovan with 4 fish for 177 points, a great result on a tough evening. Zone B (Glassilaun) was won by Sean Ivory, with 7 fish for 338 points. The overall winner, however, with a fantastic catch of 17 fish for 559 points, was Tim O’Sullivan from Galway Bay SAC. An incredible performance that left everyone else for dust!
In the junior section, the bronze medal went to Ailbhe Hartnett. Sanny Harty took the silver, and the gold medal, and Mauyrice Dalton trophy went to Liam Davis from West Cork SAC. Liam has featured in reports several times this year, and is rapidly making a name for himself as a top match angler, beating many senior anglers regularly.
Congratulations to both winners, and well done to Brian Reidy, Colin Harty and Gary Miskell for a well-run competition.
