Champs and the Home Internationals - 1974
The Jes won the boys J18 eight in 1974 and that crew went on to represent Ireland in the Home Internationals. An excellent account of these regattas is now provided by Vincent Rogan, club captain for that year.
1974: The Jes Senior Eight. Eamonn Lawless (coach), Paul Lawless, John Murphy, Kennedy O’Brien, Joe Healy, Vincent Rogan, Colm O’Donnellan, James O’Kelly, Brendan O’Dea with Seamus Storan (cox) in front.
HOME INTERNATIONAL REGATTA - MONMOUTH 1974
When Evan Molloy asked me to write a piece about the Home Internationals of 1974, my first reaction was that it was difficult to remember what I did 42 minutes ago - never mind trying to remember things that happened 42 years ago! So, I have done my best to trawl my memory, and, for any factual or other inaccuracies contained in this piece, I apologise in advance.
Monmouth 1974 did not happen by accident - there was a long lead-in. The late Fr. Eddie Diffely was in charge of the club that year (1973 - 74), having returned from missionary work in Africa c. 1972 to Galway and took charge of the club. Fr. Eddie was a great organizer and had a great way with people and the task of being in charge of the club suited him to his fingertips. It was a great time to be a member of the club under his stewardship.
Fr. Eddie had high ambitions for the club. He set about identifying a suitable coach to fulfil those ambitions and settled upon one Eamon Lawless to be the coach of the senior eight. The name 'Lawless' is of course synonymous with Jes rowing; I think there were three Lawless families in the club at the one time in the years surrounding that period. Eamon had been an accomplished and skilful cox in the late '60s with the Jes and in the early '70s with UCG and had an incisive knowledge of the sport.
Between them Fr. Eddie and Eamon set about selecting a first eight in the months of September/October 1973. The winter training consisted of three days on land i.e. running (5 mile runs), and weights training in the gym and Saturday and Sunday mornings on the river. They ultimately settled on the following crew:- Stroke: John Murphy. The stroke position is arguably the most important one in the boat in so far as the stroke must not only do as much as everyone else in the boat, but, in addition, he must (a) give a suitable rowing rhythm which can be easily followed by the other seven oarsmen behind him and (b) he must set at his discretion the rate/number of strokes per minute. John performed this task extremely well which contributed in no small way to our subsequent wins during the regatta season. At No. 7 was Paul Lawless - a position almost as vital as the stroke position because he had to pass the rowing rhythm back along the bowside. Paul was a very skilled oarsman and performed well at all times. I was in the No.6 seat and behind me at No.5 was Joe Healy - like John Murphy, Joe was also a rugby player and very strong. He started his rowing career a little later than the rest of us,but, he had great ability and probably surpassed most of us in the end. Ever reliable, he was a powerhouse in the middle of the boat. In the No.4 seat was Kennedy O'Brien. Kennedy was of smaller build than Joe, but always punched above his weight. A very disciplined oarsman, he could always be relied upon to deliver enviable puddles in every race. In the No.3 seat was Colm O'Donnellan, also a rugby player and strong as a bull. Always good-humoured, if we lost a race he would not get too upset about it - only get back into the boat and prepare for the next race. In the No.2 seat and bow seat respectively were James Kelly and Brendan O'Dea. I mention the two together because the conventional wisdom at that time was that you would put the two lightest oarsmen at Bow and No.2 in order not to have the bow of the boat too low in the water, which would only make it more difficult to propel the boat forward. In addition, the two candidates for these positions had to be very neat oarsmen, which both of them were. Finally, in the Cox's seat was Seamie Storan, a very able and intelligent cox. In races held on river courses, tidal or otherwise, Seamie would position the boat exactly in the most advantageous position, whether rowing with the current or against it. Once the boat was on the water, Seamie was in command of the crew - nobody crossed him.
Following the long winter training, we won in our category a number of "Heads of the River" races in the Springtime and also at the early Summer regattas around the country. At Galway regatta in June 1974, we won the coveted Anderson Cup - a trophy that every schoolboy oarsman wanted to win down the years.
We felt very satisfied with ourselves having won the Anderson but Fr. Eddie and Eamon made it clear to us that nothing short of winning the All-Ireland senior schoolboy championship would suffice. On the river, Eamon pushed us to the outer limits to achieve that aim. The event would take place around mid-July at Enniskillen regatta. A lot of doubt surrounded whether or not we would be able to go - the "Troubles" seemed if anything to be getting worse and therefore personal safety was an issue. The local hotel beside the Enniskillen regatta course on the Erne had lately been destroyed by an IRA bomb, so there was legitimate reason to think that we might not travel.
However, it was ultimately decided that we would travel.
The regatta at Enniskillen was a slightly muted affair because of the difficult circumstances of the time. We were one man short going to Enniskillen - Kennedy O'Brien had unavoidably to sit a Matric Spanish exam and hence his place was taken by Donough O'Leary who fitted in very well to the crew. Portora Royal School were the hosts of the event and they were very welcoming and friendly. We competed in two championship events namely senior schoolboy eights and senior schoolboy fours. The four consisted of four from the eight being John Murphy, Joe Healy, myself and Paul Lawless with Seamie Storan coxing. We won both championships comfortably, beating finalists Portora (from Enniskillen), Coleraine Academic Institution (Co. Derry) and St. Joseph (the Bish) of Galway. Having been presented with our medals at the end of the regatta, there was no celebrating afterwards at the regatta enclosure - such was the strained atmosphere arising from the "Troubles". So, we packed our boats and oars and equipment on to the boat trailer and headed for Galway straight after the regatta.
We arrived in Galway that night too late to attend at any hostelry for celebrating; so, Fr. Eddie brought us back to the Jesuit community house on Sea Road - into a room known as "The Parlour", if I remember correctly - where we all had a great night. Eamon made it clear to us that we would get one day off and that we would be back on the river on Monday morning to get ready for the Home International regatta at Monmouth as we were now the Irish champions.
Monmouth regatta took place at the end of July. We went to Dublin in the school minibus, a fairly old clapped out Mercedes that used to emit a plume of black diesel smoke for about half a minute when the engine was being started. The minibus was left in Dublin and we went to England on the overnight B&I ferry from the North Wall to Liverpool - exciting enough in itself because most of us were never on such a ship before. We had sleeping cabins on the way over, a journey of about 8 hours. The mens senior eights champions that year were Garda Rowing Club based at Islandbridge in Dublin - they would represent Ireland at that level at Monmouth. We all travelled together on the ferry.
On arrival in Liverpool, we were driven by coach to Monmouth, ourselves and the Garda crew. The coach driver didn't seem to know the roads very well and got lost. He had driven on the motorway in the wrong direction for some time when an observant member of the Garda crew figured there was something wrong and pointed this out to the driver (in very clear terms). As a result of this delay, we missed the mayoral reception in Monmouth which was put on for the visiting crews. Our overnight accommodation in Monmouth was at a local boarding school.
The next day was regatta day. The weather was absolutely foul - rain, gale and white waves on the lake where the regatta was being held. The conditions could not have been worse for rowing, but, that of course applied to all the crews, not just us. Our boats had been brought over from Ireland by trailer and we assembled the boats before the start of the regatta. The eight was named "Marquette" and the four "Koska" - both Jesuit saints whose intercession was certainly going to be needed in such terrible rowing conditions.
The fours race was held first and the eights event a little while later. We had been issued with the green singlets - a very proud moment - and off we went to the start of the fours race. The gunwales of the Koska were quite low to the water and we had already shipped some water by the time we got to the start. We rowed reasonably well but the England crew were that bit better and ultimately beat us by one length, with Wales and Scotland coming third and fourth. Disappointing, but there can only be one winner.
The eights race took place sometime later. If the Koska was a boat that had low gunwales, the Marquette was the opposite - a bit of a battleship and therefore much more suited to the rough conditions of the day. The England champions that year were from Westminster school, London and they were the favourites to win at Monmouth. We gave them a great race and at the finish line we were separated only by a canvas - less than 6 feet - with England being the winners. So near and yet so far. We were gutted, but that's rowing.
We had to get the ferry in Liverpool that night so there was no waiting around. We packed up the boats and headed for Liverpool on the coach. The Garda crew had a couple of good singers and so there was a good sing-song on the coach and ferry back to Dublin. We had no bunks on the way back so we were fairly wrecked when we got back to Dublin.
Some few days later in Galway, we were received by the Mayor, Alderman Fintan Coogan T.D. on a stage in Woodquay and the celebrating went on late into the evening at Hughes bar in Woodquay - always a great rowing pub - where Mickey Hughes and his family were unfailingly welcoming to all oarsmen. Galway rowing club had also won a national championship that year - the mens junior eights - so there were two "pots" to be celebrated - each trophy cup was filled with a mixture of a bottle of "Paddy" and some Cidona (to take the hard taste off it) - this was the usual custom on winning a trophy. The cup would be offered to everyone in the bar, normally packed, until it was completely drained of its contents. A great night of celebration.
Reflecting on Monmouth, there is one question that we will never know the answer to. It was the policy of the Irish Amateur Rowing Union at that time that the winners of the national championships would represent Ireland at the Home Internationals. The problem with that was that if the winners of the fours championship came out of the same boat as the winners of the eights, then at the Home Internationals, 4 oarsmen were inevitably going to go into the second race that bit less fresh than the remaining 4. In our case, the four rowed before the eight; hence there were four sets of fresh legs in the eight and four not so fresh after a hard race in the prior fours event. The England four and eight were entirely separate - different schools having won each event. Would it have made a difference to the 6 feet verdict at the end of the day? We will never know and we must be satisfied that we did our best.
Win or lose, we got to wear the green jersey for Ireland - "capped" as called in some other sports. And that will always be a lasting and pleasant memory.
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