Pictures: Thousands turn out in Skibbereen to welcome home Olympic rowing heroes

Thousands lined the streets of Skibbereen as the town welcomed home Olympic rowing heroes, double gold medal winners Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy and Olympic finalists Aoife Casey and Emily Hegarty.

A brass band and young people from rowing, GAA, athletics, gymnastics and a range of other sports teams and clubs led a parade through the packed streets of Skibbereen, followed by an open top double decker bus with the Olympians waving to ersby.

Skibbereen rowing club committee member Emily Dulohery told The Echo: “It’s so exciting to be here and celebrating all our young people in sport, we have juvenile athletes from a load of clubs so it’s a really big community celebration of sport.

“In 2016 when we held a celebration for Paul and Gary O’Donovan’s silver medal in Rio, Fintan was in the audience, so we’re hoping today will inspire lots more young people.”

The gathering was extra special as “in 2021 we were in the height of Covid so there were no big groups allowed to assemble – so today is kind of like a double celebration,” she said.

DJs led the large crowd who gathered in the car park in a spirited sing along and audience waved Irish, Olympic and Skibbereen rowing club flags as the Olympians arrived.

Speeches were given by Skibbereen Rowing Club Captain Seán O’Brien and Chairperson Seán Murran, as well as County Mayor Joe Carroll and Tánaiste Micheál Martin.

Mr Carroll said commented on how well the town was represented in the Paris Olympics, saying: 

“People often ask me is there something special in the water down there, I tell them there’s nothing special in the water but there’s certainly something special about the people in the water – their dedication to their sport is something I’ve never seen the likes of.” 

Mr Martin added: “That four athletes could come from this one place and achieve so much at the top of an intensely competitive sport is remarkable – each one demonstrated real humility as well as pride in where they come from - they are true Olympians, and examples to us all.” 

Also among the crowd were coach Dominic Casey, Richard Hosford, founding member of the rowing club, CEO of Rowing Ireland Michelle Carpenter, Chief Executive of Cork County Council Moira Murrell and local TDs and councillors.

Cork South West Fianna Fáil TD Christopher O’Sullivan spoke to  The Echo: “What a day to be in Skibbereen, what a day to be in West Cork - the four rowers have given Skibbereen a huge lift, they’ve given all of Ireland a lift and it’s befitting to see such a huge crowd turn up to celebrate them and welcome them home.” 

Tokyo bronze medallist Emily Hegarty said it was “surreal” to see such a huge crowd gathered for them, and said “the success has come from volunteers, parents, people getting involved – we wouldn’t be a club.” 

Aoife Casey, who finished fifth in Paris alongside Mags Cremen said: “When I was younger it was all about getting in the water and trying to keep up with the boat next to me, and I've tried to keep that mindset up – it was amazing to make it into the final and be up against the best in the world.”

Fintan McCarthy said “whether we won a gold medal or not, we’d still have the of the whole community” and added that seeing the O’Donovan brothers’ welcoming reception in 2016 “was probably the blueprint for all of us.

“We all wanted to emulate the success of the lads so hopefully we can inspire the next crop and maybe in four or eight years’ time they’ll be up here too with their own Olympic medals.

“There’s no secret to our success, just always trying to get better than we were before - put a bit of Dominic Casey into the mix and you’ve got a winning combination.”

The homecoming in Skibbereen was delayed for several weeks to accommodate Paul O’Donovan’s participation in the World Rowing Championships in Canada, where he won another gold medal.

When asked about it, he said “it’s been a good few weeks actually, I’ve had a good time just been trying to keep myself out of trouble,” and suggested that the reason for his sporting success was “the parents must have raised me well.”

He too shared his hope for the next generation of athletes in Skibbereen, and said coming back to the town was the best part of the last few weeks for him, adding that he was sure there would be celebrations tonight “but myself and Joe Carroll have to be in work tomorrow at half past seven so not too much celebrating for us.”