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Previous Crews: 1934-49
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1934: The First Jes Crew
From left, Bertie Kavanagh (cox), Bill Donovan, Gerry Colgan, John Keogh and Austin Caulfield.
1935: The First Jes Crew to win a National Title
The 1935-1936 St. Ignatius College Rowing Club crew: Austin Caulfield (bow), Andy Keogh, Colm O'Riordan, Walter Murphy (stroke) and Kevin Faller (cox).
The same crew with their Irish Championship cup. They beat the holders of the championship Rockwell College by three lengths. Standing from left, Walter Murphy (stroke) and Colm O'Riordan. Sitting from left, Andy Keogh, Kevin Faller (cox) and Austin Caulfield (bow). Our gratitude to Jesuit Archives, holder of the copyright, for permission to use this rare photo.
Tom Kenny in the Galway Advertiser, 3rd November 1994, mentions "that their (CIRC) first Championship victory was at the Dublin Metropolitan Regatta in 1936, when they won the schools fours.
The 1940's: The dark ages and re-birth
The Jes stopped rowing during the early 1940's and all club activity ceased.
At the time, Senan Timoney was a student at the Jes (1938-1945). In 1943, Fr. Andy O'Reilly S.J. asked him and four other Jes students to be part of the renewal of the Rowing Club. None of the students knew how to row and the Jes had no boats. The school had to rely on the Corrib Rowing and Yachting Club and Mick Kavanagh, the boatman there, to help them with boats and oars.
In spite of these difficulties, the club was re-established and Senan Timoney rowed in the 1944 crew -- the first Jes crew of the 1940’s. The crew members were Brendan O'Riordan (bow), Frank Forde (2), Senan Timoney (3), John Mangan (stroke) and Ivor Kenny (cox). (If only we had a photograph of this crew, critical in the history of the club).
Senan Timoney later returned as a "scholastic " for two years during 1953-1956 when he trained crews with Fr. Eddie Diffley S.J.. Some ten years later, in the early 1960's, Father Timoney, now an ordained Jesuit priest, was responsible for running the Rowing Club. (We thank Fr. Senan Timoney S.J. and Fr. Conall O'Cuinn S.J. for this information).
Though we have no photograph of the 1944 crew, we do have a photograph, taken at the Metropolitan Regatta at Islandbridge in Dublin, of Senan Timoney as a young Jesuit priest "from Ignatius College, Galway"
This places the photograph as taken during the early 1960's. We can assume that Father Timoney was at the Regatta to watch Jes crews competing.
Watching the events in the Metropolitan Regatta at Islandbridge: From left, Rev. E. Diffely S.J., W. Rooney, A. Healy and Rev. S. Timoney S.J., St. Ignatius College, Galway. (Scanned from a clipping from an unidentified newspaper. The caption is a direct quote from the clipping).
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