This is going to be a dogfight. Each one of the only three entrants in this field is fully capable of winning this category. As experienced senior women, each with successful seasons last year at home and abroad, it will be interesting to see who will break and who can keep the pressure on through to the finish.
Amy Barrett, University of Limerick Rowing Club
Coming off of a second-place finish at Irish Indoors in the Lightweight U23 category, this first competitor has certainly proven her strength on the erg. She’s also had success on the water, with wins in both the Senior quad and Senior eight at Irish Rowing Championships last summer, from which she walked away with three more top-three finishes in the Senior 4- (2nd) and the Intermediate 8+ and 1x (both 3rd). Barrett competed for the Irish sculling team at the 2024 Home International Regatta in Scotland, racing coming third in both 2x and 4x. Notably, she’s beaten Áine O’Mahony, another entrant in this category, in the scull at Irish Rowing Championships, but not by much—only 0.03 seconds. Finally, Barrett has proven herself as a sculler in head races, winning this category at Castleconnell Head of the River in October over 10 others in the field.
Alyssa Mannix, University of Limerick Rowing Club
Alyssa Mannix has proven herself to be a boat mover. As another top-UL athlete, Mannix’s accomplishments from last year’s Irish Championships more-or-less match Barrett’s: the two wins at Irish Rowing Championships, two additional top-three finishes (the senior coxless four and intermediate eights), and fourth place in the senior pair . Mannix also competed at Home International Regatta last summer, though on the sweep squad, which brings me to one—perhaps the only—glaring weakness of hers as compared to the others in this category: though Mannix is no stranger to sculling, she has less racing experience in the single than both Barrett, who frequently races in the single, and O’Mahony who, as I will discuss, is a sculling specialist. We’ll see if Mannix can pull off a win this weekend.
Áine O’Mahony, Fermoy Rowing Club
On paper, O’Mahony is the clear favourite for the pennant this weekend. Though each of these rowers is an experienced one, O’Mahony has racing experience at a higher level of competition than the others as a member of the Irish U23 squad that raced at the U23 World Rowing Championships last summer. Though she may have been disappointed to come 6th, an A-final appearance is certainly nothing to sneeze at. Not only competing, but also training at the U23-level, which O’Mahony will have been doing prior to and since the U23 World Rowing Championships, is something that just can’t be replicated at the university or club levels. That being said, Barrett did edge out O’Mahony in the scull at Champs last year, where the latter also came away with a solid 2nd place finish in the Intermediate double.
Prediction
Once again, Fermoy’s O’Mahony should take this one on paper, but it will be a dogfight, something each of these three competitors will be used to. Both Barrett and Mannix have proven themselves capable of taking chunks out of strong competitors, including O’Mahony herself in Barrett’s case. Hesitantly, I’d say O’Mahony will come out on top, with Barrett and Mannix in a close second and third respectively.
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