Corrane Sea Angling Club hosted the Connacht Closed Gold Medal recently, with venues on Achill Island and Mulranny chosen for the 3-session event, held over 2 days.

Fishing was difficult in the first session and anglers were split between two zones, the venue was Dugort beach. The difficulty of the fishing was outlned by the results, with 5 and 6 fish being enough to take zone wins, with Colin Harty and Sean Ivory from Galway Bay SAC both taking maximum points from the first session. Kevin O’Hara and Kevin Barber (also GBSAC) took zone seconds.
The second session was at Mulranny Beach and fished into darkness. Dogs and flats were the main species caught on the evening. Colin Harty maintained his 100% record with another zone win, while Corrane’s Shane Gilvarry won his zone. Kevin O’Hara and Ed Kilroy moved up the leaderboard with second places.
It was all to play for in the final session on Sunday morning at Keel beach. A very strong easterly breeze had come in which resulted in poor fishing, and quite a few blanks along the beach. It was tight right to lines up, when a single fish could have made the difference. In the end, a zone win for Corrane SACs Ed Kilroy saw him climb the leaderboard to third and bronze medal position. Colin Harty struggled in the final session, but two zone wins from Saturday saw him take second place and the silver medal.
And it was Mr. Consistency, Kevin Barber, with a second place to add to second and third on Saturday who won the Closed Gold Medal by a single point. Well done Kevin!
Kevin Barber (right) presented with his trophy and gold medal by Joe Chambers
Mike Varley also had a zone win, but it wasn’t enough to make the top 5 and the Connacht team for next year’s Inter-Provincial Competition. The team for next year will be Kevin Barber, Colin Harty, Ed Kilroy, Shane Gilvarry and Kevin O’Hara. Mike Varley and Sean Ivory missed out on the team by a single point in a very tight contest.
Top 5 make the Connacht team