‘Pretty special’ was how head coach Derek Holland described a record breaking weekend for the young rowers from Fermanagh at the highly competitive Irish Rowing Championships at the National Rowing Centre in Cork which resulted in a 15 gold medal haul in total.

It was a case of new name but continued dominance of the junior rowing scene for Enniskillen Royal Boat Club (formerly Portora Boat Club) as they amassed an amazing 11 gold medals while Allanah Leonard representing NUIG won three golds and Masters rower Gerry Murphy won his ninth Irish gold medal representing Portora Boat Club with a win in the single sculls.

Enniskillen Royal Boat Club simply blew the opposition out of the water with a series of ferocious displays matched only by the high winds that cancelled racing on the Saturday afternoon of these three day championships.

Head coach Derek Holland was suitably delighted with the performances of all the rowers.

“To be honest, it is pretty special to have achieved what we set out to achieve a couple of years ago and that is win all four 8s, it is nice to win all four. The weekend sort of went to plan to be honest, we were expecting good performances going on the times in training, so we were pretty confident coming,” revealed the former Olympic rower.

He added: “For all the coaches and for all the rowers themselves, given the amount of work that everyone has put in, it is pleasing to win these medals and championships; 80 per cent of the squad will have picked up a medal at the championship.”

Derek attributes the success of the last three or four years to the facilities the club enjoys.

“The success is down to the investment into the Boat House with the new facilities, we are getting more time on the water, you don’t have to queue on the slips to get out, we have good changing facilities and we don’t have to drag our safety launches in and out of the water, so we are getting longer on the water each training session. This has helped the rowers get that little bit fitter but also we have a great group of coaches and had great coaches over the years who just dig in and get on with it and know what to do.”

The coach agreed the margin of victory was also pleasing but warned “don’t be fooled, a lot of work went into those wins and to dominate races rather than be in tight finishes”.

Having not won the blue riband J18 8 title for 34 years, the Boat Club has now won the last four titles and the crew of Nathan Timoney, Jack Kennedy, Ross Corrigan, Aaron Johnston, Conor McLaughlin Borlace, Sean O’Hare Smith, Odhran Donaghy, Peter Murphy and coxed by Rory Farragher not only won by clear water but set a new course record in a time of 5 mins 47.95 seconds for 2,000m.

Indeed, for the first time ever the Boat Club won all four of the championship 8 classes as they added the Boys J16 8 and Girls’ J18 8 and J16 8 titles in similarly emphatic fashion.

The girls J16 8 got the ball rolling on Friday with the crew of Caoimhe Leonard, Victoria Wilson, Maeve Donnelly, Beate Ozola, Abby Corry, Trudie McComb, Maria O’Doherty, Lana Bothwell and coxed by Rebecca Conway winning by four lengths in a time of seven minutes 5.34 seconds from second placed Lee Rowing Club.

The girls then completed the double as the older J18 8 crew of Mia Jayne Elliott, Zoe McCutcheon, Caoimhe Leonard, Jessica Long, Caitlynn Fee, Victoria Wilson, Maeve Donnelly, Miriam Kelly and coxed by Sarah Dolan won with ease in a new course record time of six minutes 36.24 seconds.

The clean sweep of the 8 classes had to wait until Sunday morning to be completed due to high winds cancelling Saturday afternoon’s racing but the Boys’ J16 8 delivered in style with the crew of Peter Murphy, Odhran Donaghy, Robbie Mills, Sam Balcombe, Rory Gamble, Conor Stewart, Michael Stewart, Ben Corrigan and coxed by Rory Farragher dominating from start to finish.

The Boys J18 section was dominated by the Boat Club as Nathan Timoney and Aaron Johnston won the Pair and they teamed up with Ross Corrigan and Conor McLaughlin Borlace to win the coxed four.

For the first time ever, the Boat Club won the Girls J18 4- as the crew of Mia Jayne Elliott, Zoe McCutcheon, Caitlynn Fee and Miriam Kelly powered to victory.

The younger crews also excelled with Cara Leonard winning gold in the Single Sculls and also rowing the J15 8 and J15 4+ which all won gold.

Rory Gamble also won gold in the J15 single sculls as the club amassed an amazing 11 gold medals over the three days.

Meanwhile, Fermanagh rowers were in action as Portora Boat Club with an eight of Gerry Murphy, Keith Nixon, Colm McCreesh, Jahn Crane, John McDade, Alastair Keys, Alan Evans, Brian O’Reilly and coxed by Aine McCreesh losing out to experienced Commercial and Neptune crews. Having only formed 12 months ago, this crew is sure to come back for more.

Gerry Murphy won his ninth Irish Rowing gold in his prolific career in the single sculls with another fine display for a man who also coaches the young Enniskillen rowers throughout the year.