McCarron Cup 2024: stunning victory for Dermot Flynn

Perfect conditions: wind, cloud, temperature, sedge and olives hatching; the rain held off. 26 anglers returned 21 fish in this 2 fish limit competition to round off the DTAA season.

Some great fish weighed in including Dermot Flynn’s fish of 5.59lbs, which with his second fish, gave a bag of 8.16lbs well ahead of nearest rival Willie Scully with 2 fish for 5.7lbs. Donal Monahan was in 3rd place with 2 fish for 5.56lbs

Full results table is here:

Fish were caught all over the lake but Srudarra performed well with opportunities for dry flies later in the afternoon. Fish were caught too near the railway line past Jack’s shore and Dermot Flynn had excellent fish late enough in the day at Lady’s Island. As well as winning the McCarron Cup, Dermot had the heaviest fish on the day AND the year! His fish was almost a pound heavier than Jim Keeshan’s fish during then Ian Rowand Trophy on the same lake.

DTAA treasurer, Declan McKibben, had a great day’s fishing with Terry O’Keeffe. Declan’s strategy was to follow Tom Hipwell around the lake and to do what he did. This paid off and Declan bagged up before lunch. Declan switched to dries later in the afternoon, catching and releasing two further trout. Terry O’Keeffe had a great fish just before lunch. It was the second heaviest fish at 3.71lbs.

Despite the possibility of an upset to the overall DTAA Angler of the year leaderboard going into this final competition, Dave Canning was secure with Alan Doherty’s 2 points not being enough to bridge the gap that Dave earned throughout the season.

Here are a selection of pictures from the day, with DTAA President Fran Nugent at the prize giving.

John O’Neill, 5th Place
Pep talk done, the eager anglers are about to set out
First Place Dermot Flynn
Gary Coakley 4th Place
Terry O’Keeffe
It was like the wedding feast of Canaan!
Willie Scully, 2nd Place

Most of the anglers joined the end of season dinner in the Greville Arms, where the prize giving took place. Thanks to competition secretary Tom Hipwell, Declan McKibben and Gerry Heaslip for their support with the organisation and running of the competitions through out the season. For many of us it is the activity that we most look forward to. Trusting you all had another good season, and best wishes for the off season; a chance to sort of the gear, restock fly boxes and dream of the new season in March 2025.