Guth & Tuairim, Meán Fómhair 1979

9 Anseo1 Ansiud FAMOUS OARSMEN - The O'Donnells of Ballymanus . Towards the end of the 19th Century, Sailing and Rowing Contests became common along t.J-.e Donegal Co c,r;t; and it was at this time that the O'Donnell's of Ballymanus first came into prominence, Soon thdr d~e<!s made them famous all along the Coast, and members of the older generation sti11 sre:otk c.f the fe«ts of these great men, who won f or the R.osses on the Sea, honours as great as other fa:nous ;,t.hlf'tPs ·rrom the Area won for her on land , For a period of twenty years, from 1890 untill 1910, the O'Donnell's were undef•;ated <:.11 ::-.lone; the Donegal Coast - A record for one crew which surely must lie unique in the history of i·.thletic Cont~>sts at Sea. Puring that period they competed at Regattas a.t Teelin, Ki1 l yber5s, Portnoo, Burtcrq •ort, Kinc•.tsslag'h; Bunbeg, Magheraroarty, Dunfanaghy and Downings, In spite of the fact that their victorifls in ;;:,;il:.ne; .H.aces were quite as impressive ? S those in Rowing. It is as Oarsmen that they are best re;;, ~,iul •ered by th~>ir Contemporaries. Al t hr·:.t.,... skill in the Art of Sailing is much admired, the Rowing Con to:·s t i ::; · t~,e rr.ore personal encount:..:. , v.•• en evenly matched crews put the last ounce of brawn and musclf: into t.he effort to wrest the honours from their apponents. The O'Donnell fami l y consisted of five brothers, Manus, Hugh, Charles, Owenie and James 1 <t1l of who;r, are now deceased. A rowing crew consisted of four Oarsmen, and during the twenty years of t he ir sHpremA.cy the panel of five brothers made up the crew. The Coxswain over the wtol c pE-r i od .... as .T:une s o;;h;;.rkey, ;;.nd t'ncle of the O'Donnell's. Space does not permit of a detailed account of all their victories. But to give some idea of +:he opposition they had to encounter, the following details are given. They once competed in a Sailing Race in Burtonport in which 14 bo;.ts tock part and were victoriou~. In a Rowing Race at Killybegs with 10 boats competing, the O'Donnell's took tht> honours. The famous Dr. Smith, who was dispensary Doctor in Burtonport and who h G.d great inte rest. in Bo;-..t Races, put up a challenge Cup for Rowing, which would become the property of the Crew to win it in thr(!€' succel's ive years. 'lhe 0 1 Donnell 1 s of Ballymanus became the proud possessors of the Dr. Smith Challenge Cur. These·men had to keep themselves perfectly fit, a s they had sometimes to compete in four ;;nd five races in one day. Their names occupy a place of honour in the. finnals of Competitions at Sea tha t will Jong be remec;bered in the Rosses. It was no wonder, therefore, that when the Kincasslagh Rowing Club was formed two ye;; rs «{J";; yo~g Rosses lads were determined to emula te the feats of those pioneers who ha.d brought fame to their Nati·Je Parish more than half a Century earlier. In our next issue, we shall review the progress 1io date of the recently formed Ki.ncasslagh Rowi.ng Club. athletics Annagry Open Sports were held at Mullaghderg Banks on Sunday 19th August. Athletes travelled from Cranford, Letterkenny, Lifford and other areas. Competition was keen in all events but the performance of the day was by Gerard Carson, Annagry. Gerard scored a fine treble of victories, He won the boys U-13 lOOm and 800m. He t~en went on to win the long jump with a leap of 15 1 - 3", an improvement of 2" on the record he set up in Ballybofey in June ·in the Primary Schools' Championships. Another athlete who performed well was Eugene O'Donnell. He won the boys U-17 200m and BOOm and then went on to record a great victory when winning the senior mens' 400m. Seamas Boyle, Annagry won the U-15 boys lOOm and then the long jump with a good jump of 16 1 -7". In the younger age groups double victories were recorded by Joseph Doherty, Mullaghduff and by Margaret Ann McGee, Mullaghduff. Of the visiting athletes the most impressive performance was by Clare Giles, Cranford who won the U~9 girls 80m and 200m. Clare is the reigning Ulster U~ll Cross Country Champion. (IU1iUllnaDUU\} 0 ~ 111a~ qn nu. a~y (jANNAGRYI) Lu_x_,,, y __ C_oa_ch__ fi i.re a ' Annagry 67 Dublin 421125 Glasgow 041 6379958 & 041 4296696 I gcuimhne ar ••• Ofche Mhi irt ceathach ciuin, .Nocht si a croi briotach bua.rtha; Ba leir di i machnamh maidne, Lub ar lar i slabhra a samhlaf.ochta. d6n Chaoin si go fras faoina heigcinnteacht ft!in, Ghuigh si go beacht go ndeanfadh si ceart; Dhearbhaigh si ari s gur mise a gra, D 1 fhag si slan agam g'cUl folaireamh go brach? l3a shuairc ar saol i gcuibhreann a che.ile, Ag saothn( de shior an siol do gineadh; Ba leir dom go mion is go minic, · Nach liomsa a lu{ a gean go huile. "N{l ann ach cara ar th:ibla an i theach:i"in, Luibh ar lorg leigbis a chintionn ceim", · Ach, gidh trean a toil, flora.iodh m<{thair - thairngreacht, "Na gorta igh mar a gortaiodh thu fe'in, tri th", Jllaidin Sha thairn, f.li.uch agus fu :tr, Mhachna ios a r r:-healluinti nar cd;nhlion<dL go fr:i} I; Fainne ar nge:·j lta go. seodmha r ag soi l b iV 1 Mise liom fein ag bre~cadh ar pha:r, Ise ag sracadh a croi ina lar, "g sun leis an duil nach dtu ill to:'!ar ad: 1e duthracht; Is e mo ghui go mbeidh si m2.r is rot~~:a 1.el 1 Cois gra a croi, sa~ta go deireadh a sli; Anoia Triallfad Nios curamai I ngleann seo na ndeor Ag duil an mhilseacht Do bhlaiseas b (ath) bhlaiseadh Ar{s. . ... ··.,-GiL oa." 'ro all the motorists ~o·hc glve l:fts to the hundreds of Hitch-hikers passing thro,,:·h N,·,.;, Donegal. Do dhuine ar bi th a t.hugann c1: 'l. l rt ar sheandaoinP ata ina ·gcona1leo fe.in. Raspberries To th. e van. dals wtio sense1e .. ssly damc;.ge telephone kiosks, · To the Editor of "G~tll & Tuairim for last month . spelling it as Rasberries.