FINTAN McCarthy is going to need a bigger boat to hold his ever-expanding collection of medals and awards.
The two-time Olympic gold medallist was crowned Senior Male Rower of the Year at Rowing Ireland’s annual awards night at Fota Island Resort on Saturday.
As he embarks on his second year at heavyweight, the Skibbereen rower will take huge encouragement from his first year at that level – he won FOUR international medals to underline his class.
The former lightweight king stepped up to heavyweight, and immediately looked at home. Alongside Konan Pazzaia in the Irish men’s double, Fintan won bronze medals at the European Championships and the World Cup regatta in Lucerne. After that, the Skibb man teamed up with Philip Doyle to win bronze at the World Rowing Championships in Shanghai where he also won gold alongside Mags Cremen in the mixed double sculls.
And as well as taking home the Senior Male Rower of the Year award last weekend, Fintan and Mags Cremen were presented with the Trailblazers Award, marking their historic achievement as Ireland’s first-ever gold medallists in the mixed double sculls at the 2025 Worlds.
Skibbereen Rowing Club’s Nuala Lupton won the Women in Sport Advocate of the Year award.
There was success, too, for Skibbereen Rowing Club’s original trailblazer Nuala Lupton who won the Women in Sport Advocate of the Year award, a fitting salute to the first rower from the Skibb club to ever represent Ireland on the world stage – Nuala was on the Irish women’s coxed four that raced at the 1975 Senior World Championships in Nottingham.
Skibbereen’s Jake McCarthy presented the Junior Male Rower of the Year award to Jack Rafferty (St Michel’s Rowing Club).
The full list of Rowing Ireland awards winners is: Coach of the Year: Myles Taylor (Methodist College Belfast Boat Club); Up-and-Coming Rower of the Year: Sophia Monahan (Shandon Boat Club); Senior Female Rower of the Year: Fiona Murtagh (University of Galway Boat Club); Senior Male Rower of the Year: Fintan McCarthy (Skibbereen Rowing Club); Junior Female Rower of the Year: Sophia Young (Methodist College Belfast Boat Club); Junior Male Rower of the Year: Jack Rafferty (St Michael’s Rowing Club); Master Female Rower of the Year: Sally Cudmore (Lee Rowing Club); Master Male Rower of the Year: Kenny McDonald (Shannon Rowing Club); Club of the Year: St Michael’s Rowing Club; Umpire of the Year: Paul Donovan (Athlone Boat Club); Women in Sport Advocate of the Year: Nuala Lupton (Skibbereen Rowing Club); Rowability Award of the Year: Joe Cunningham (Castleconnell Boat Club); Volunteer of the Year: Donal Cronin (Cork Boat Club); Special Recognition: A special presentation recognised athletes, coaches and medallists from the 2025 Senior World Championships, including Fintan McCarthy, Philip Doyle, Mags Cremen, Fiona Murtagh and Jake McCarthy; President’s Award: High Performance Support Team in recognition of their collective contribution to the exceptional performances of Rowing Ireland athletes on the world and European stage throughout 2025.