Teamwork Triumphs! Team Ireland the 2025 Celtic Cup in England

Float Team Manager Jason Ward gives us an inside look at their 2025 Celtic Cup win on the River Weaver.

“After two good days practice, where we learned loads about a very tricky venue, that was very much out of sorts, we were confident going into the first day of competition. Team Ireland ‘Black’ were looking good on the ‘Dredger’ section of the river, with a 1st for and 2nd in section for . But the other side of the river was trickier for us, with struggling in a really bad area and suffering due to a late re-pegging putting him on an un-fished peg. This put the tram on 20 points with a mountain to climb.

The good news however, was that Team Ireland ‘Grey’ consisting of , , and put in a really solid performance to score 13 points, putting them in striking distance of Team Wales ‘Red’ (8 points) and Team Scotland ‘White’ (12 points).

A BIG shout out to our three young anglers who made up Team Ireland ‘White’; , and – under the rules of competition, if any of them came higher in a section that their Team Ireland ‘Grey’ counterpart, then their score counts. This is applied to ensure all the anglers have something to fish for – a rule that was to prove critical for us on Day 2!

Day 2 – with significant work to do the focus was on the Grey team, but the whole squad were fully focused as they knew they could play a massive role if able to take points off the leading teams. The venue picked up somewhat and fish started to show in areas, making for a great technical match and an ideal training ground for the FIPsed events we fish at international level.

On ‘Dredger’ we had Leigh on A9 next to Dean on B1 – a fluke of the draw, but fortunately both were on fish and went on to win their sections. With the other team members doing their bit suddenly the 5 point gap was gone and Team Wales and Team Ireland were tied going into the two ‘Oak Tree’ sections!

Mary had struggled, but James Wellwood was fishing a superb match in C section, and his results could replace Mary’s. At the weigh0in Team Wales ‘Red’ were leading the section, but then Vincent pipped them by a few grammes, and critically, James then beat Vincent by the same margin to take the section. Team Ireland were now leading by 2 going down the final section. We knew Team Wales ad this section but not their ‘Red’ team angler, although we knew he had a tench which we thought would have put him second. However, Jamie Murray had fished brilliantly to beat him, catching some quality roach, pushing him to third. Phil has struggled but had a decent perch and a few small fish for 600g. This put him in 5th with 4 still to weigh we knew if anyone beat him Team Wales would be champions. When the next best weight was 500g, we knew we had tied and it would all be down to weight! Fortunately we had managed to beat Team Wales on both days by just over 2kg in total, and had won it – a fantastic result for the entire squad!

Analysing the results you can see how every member played their part, in a match that ultimately came down to grammes in every section. Individually we also had great success; Vincent (3 point total) was pipped to 1st place on weight, with Leigh (4 points) taking 3rd on his Team Ireland debut, and Jamie (also 4 points) coming in 4th.

Huge thanks to all the anglers who took part – the match is fished in great spirits and really does prepare our anglers for World and European championship, blending youth with experience to develop all involved.

Massive thanks to Ben Roberts Wales Float Fishing Team for all his help in organising and hosting the event, and to my Scottish Federation for Coarse Angling counterpart, Gus Brindle for all his assistance.

So, onto 2026 and a chance to defend our title on home soil – when we shall look forward to welcoming everyone to the Wild West of County Mayo!”

: Clarke Civil Works , Inland Fisheries Ireland, Tubertini UK LTD , Marcel Van Den Eynde Ireland, Irish Bait and Tackle Limited