Donegal Crowned Intercounties Champions
The Irish Surfing Community gathered in Rossnowlagh, Co Donegal at the weekend for the 41th Intercounties Surfing Championships. Surfers of all ages from all around Ireland formed teams to participate. In small surf at Rossnowlagh, the first round seeded the top eight teams for qualification into the quarter finals. Donegal Ladies and Donegal Wee Ones put in strong performances to make the quarter finals but it was Mayo, Waterford and Donegal A and Donegal Surf World that progressed to the semis. Mayo took on Donegal A in the first semi, while Waterford challenged Donegal Surf World in the second semi.

Mayo was captained by Kevin Smith and included Rory Tuohy, Robin Keating and Charles O’Malley. The Donegal Surf World Team included four Bundoran surfers and was captained Emmet O’Doherty surfing with Aaron Reid, Owen Murphy and Conor Maguire. Although Mayo had never won the Intercounties championships they had contested several finals in recent years and with a strong team looked set to challenge Donegal. However the waves really deteriorated during the final leaving surfers struggling to find scoring rides. Aaron Reid and Owen Murphy managed to make the most of the poor surf taking a couple of high scoring rides each to seal victory for Donegal and disappointment for Mayo.