Anthony Dooley set for World Masters in September

It is a Sunday morning. 8am. Anthony Dooley gently rows up the River Barrow. Not as far as Knockbeg Weir but past the site of the old sugar factory. The 79 year old gently turns his scull around but before he returns to the Carlow Rowing Club he stops, absorbs the solitude of the morning and enjoys the moment.

It has been a hectic last few weeks for Dooley. He has participated in singles, doubles and quad Masters Rowing events in Scotland, England and in Lough Rinn, County Leitrim. His doubles partner is Seamus Buster Keating who has been living in England for many years now but they have remained in touch, are good friends and are doughty competitors.

In Scotland they took gold in the Coxed Four, silver in the Quad and the Double Scull.

This was followed by the British Championship at Nottingham where Anthony won Gold in the single scull. Seamus annexed silver and they combined to take second in the doubles.

That venue resonates for Dooley.

“A rowing course where Sean Drea won his Silver Medal (1975). Jimmy O’Neill (Carlow) represented Ireland in the junior worlds there,” recalled Dooley.

The Irish Championship was next and again there was a gold in the double with a second and third placing in the singles.

There is another side to the relationship the duo enjoy. Anthony was Buster’s coach from 1975 to 1985. Seamus may have lived in England but his relationship to Carlow Rowing has seen him regularly return to his native town where he has taken part in at least 30 Carlow Regattas.

It hasn’t been all plain sailing for Anthony. The pandemic left him fighting against long Covid. He won that battle.

“It was backwards I was going. I got a fright,” he admits.

One of the most astute investments of Anthony’s life was the assembly of a mini gym at his home.

“It is the best few Euro’s I spent in my life. You know the morning you wake up and it is raining. It is very hard to put the boat on the river then. The best few bob I spent in my life,” he confirms.

Highlight of Dooley’s rowing career was winning the schoolboy eights as a member of the Carlow crew in 1961.

He also remembers leading Sean Drea into the closing stages of a race in Coleraine when the Irish rower was in his prime.

“I went ahead. My heart was thumping. I was thinking I was racing Sean Drea who was racing to ensure his Olympic qualification.” It wasn’t to be. Drea put in a big finish to take the win but the Carlow man still enjoys telling the story.

On the horizon for Dooley is the Masters event at Henley next week while the plan is to take part in the World Masters in September at a Spanish venue.

In the meantime, Anthony was back on the river at the weekend. Since he was a teenager, it has been a way of life for him. That will never change.