Gala Report: Connacht Open 2025

Date: Sun 9 March Location: UL

The 2025 Connacht Open saw 24 Shark Swimmers in full competitive mode. This gala was a step towards Connacht  and Summer National qualifying times for many swimmers, and a good competition practise day for others.

Huge thanks to Simon Coffey for coaching all day, and to Coach Daniel who jumped in with advice and words of encouragement for the swimmers when he wasn’t competing himself. TM’s were Cassandra Cunningham and Lorraine Banks, with Call Room duty handled very well by Anita Sablic & Aine O’Connell, and afternoon Turn Judge official duties handled by Jim Dickson.

Missing from Limerick were black hats Neysa Connolly & Katie Kelly who were representing Connacht at the Wycombe LC meet in the UK this weekend.

Highlights of the Event

  • 24 Shark Swimmers represented Black to Yellow squads, it was super to see younger swimmers very comfortable at performing so well at a long course meet.
  • The most notable achievement was Niamh Connery winning 100m Breaststroke where a time of 1:11.06 set a new Connacht junior record. Her first 50m split was faster than her current PB in the 50m Breaststroke!
  • Our bus journey down and back was DJ’d by the back seat crew, it was great to have a chance to chat and as ever team spirit is always inclusive and fun.

Swimmers' Performance

To the new Connacht Record we added 15 Gold medals (an impressive 3 Gold each to Niamh Connery, Olivia Currie and Fia O’Donnell), 5 Silver and 8 Bronze, along with 48 PB’s achieved over a total of 104 events.

James Coll, Blue squad had an impressive day with 6 PB’s from 6 races. Mason Cunningham Flahery and Alise Fabricusa from White squad both showed exciting potential racing fast times in their age groups and looking very confident in the long course environment.

It was super to see our three Yellow hats Sam Devitt, Aishling Henihan and Sarah Harrison do so well, and bring home 8 PB’s between them.

Team Relays

Shark took Silver in the mixed 50m medley relay in a time of 2:03.88 followed by another Silver in the Female 100m Free relay with a time of 4:27.36

One of our fun moments was taking Gold in both the 200m Freestlye relays in the final event of the day. Maybe because we had the greatest endurance or maybe because no other teams entered! Either way there were Shark roars as both male and female teams finished their 800m races and touched the wall.

Coaches/Captains' Remarks

Club Captain Killian Banks summed up: A good day of racing & PB’s, now heads down. Get stuck in to training and look forward to what is to come over the next months. Lots of time to get qualified for Summer Nationals.

Next Up

Thanks to all who make our club run smoothly, the volunteer team behind the scenes do a lot of work. Thanks to Jim Dickson Gala Secretary, and Cassandra for all the organising and arranging. Next up is Senior Schools Interpros on March 23rd where we have 5 Shark Black hats competing for Connacht. After that we are back to UL for the Aspiring Champions 2 day gala March 29/30, with some swimmers also headed to the NAC, Dublin for Minor Schools Championship on Sunday March 30th.