Ireland's professional road racers?

GlennaMaddy

After watching 'Cycle of Betrayal', I've started reading 'The Ras: Ireland's Unique Bike Race'.

From what I've read so far, Gene Mangan was Ireland's first professional, but then I remembered Harry Reynolds.

So I think the order would be something like this;

Harry Reynolds
Gene Ma]ngan
Se O'Hanlon
John Mangan
Shay Elliott
Peter Crinnion
Pat McQuaid
Sean Kelly
Stephen Roche
Alan McCormack
Paul McCormack
Bernie McCormack
Martin Early
Paul Kimmage
John Brady
Laurence Roche
Morgan Fox
Declan Lonergan
Ciaran Power
David O’Loughlin
David McCann
Paul Griffen
Mark Scanlon
Dermot Nally
Stephen Gallagher
Nicholas Roche
Philip Deignan
Dan Martin

Martyn Irvine

Roger Aiken

I assume all the Irish members of the An Post team earn a salary, so they should be included too?

Have I missed anybody?

rottenhat

ummm...Shay Elliott?

RobFowl

Peter Crinnion (just after Shay Elliot)

RobFowl

Paul McCormack was a pro in the states for a few years late 80's early 90's
Also John Brady rode for the 7-11 team circa 1992

Don;t forget Pat McQuaid viking cycles lates 70's early 80's (whatever happened to him :rolleyes:)

RobFowl

Morgan Fox Tonnisteiner Colnago 1996 ish first pro in the post Kelly/Roche era

Junior

Declan Lonergan..

el tel

Paul Slane
David McCann
Roger Aiken (is Roger still a pro??)

probably some others too...

RobFowl

Gary Thonpson (ANC Halfords among others)
Robin Seymour (multiple MTB teams)

RobFowl

Siobhan Dervan is riding for a Bona fide pro team in Fenixis

GlennaMaddy

RobFowl wrote: »

Gary Thonpson (ANC Halfords among others)
Robin Seymour (multiple MTB teams)

Can't find any reference to Gary Thompson on the web, you sure you have the name right, must admin that I don't remember there being an Irish interest in ANC Halfords.

RobFowl

GlennaMaddy wrote: »

Can't find any reference to Gary Thompson on the web, you sure you have the name right, must admin that I don't remember there being an Irish interest in ANC Halfords.

I'm doubting my memory myself now.
I was sure he rode for the ANC team or one of its affiliates in the mid eighties but can't find any reference to it now.
Must be the Alhzeimers :rolleyes:

Dura Ace

I'm not sure if any of these were pro's.

Gene Mangan
Se O'Hanlon
John Mangan

They were with the NCA, rather than CRE, so I don't think they could have gotten pro licences.


Conor Henry was a stagiare with TVM, in the early 90's afaik, but I don't think he raced as a pro.

Dura Ace

RobFowl wrote: »

I'm doubting my memory myself now.
I was sure he rode for the ANC team or one of its affiliates in the mid eighties but can't find any reference to it now.
Must be the Alhzeimers :rolleyes:

I think Gary Thompson may have ridden for the Falcon team in Britain. They were around at the same time as ANC.

RobFowl

Dura Ace wrote: »

I'm not sure if any of these were pro's.

Gene Mangan
Se O'Hanlon
John Mangan

They were with the NCA, rather than CRE, so I don't think they could have gotten pro licences.


Conor Henry was a stagiare with TVM, in the early 90's afaik, but I don't think he raced as a pro.

+1 on this
Gene Mangan and Shay O'Hanlon were both amateurs (although extremely sucessful ones)
John Mangan won pro-am races abroad but was an amateur.

I remember Conor Henry winning the British Milk Race and getting the stagiare ride with TVM, not sure how he didn't get a full contract in the end.

Also I'm don't think Paul Slane was ever a pro.

In the interests of sanity maybe consider the Sean Kelly team, Murphy and Gunn and Pezula's squad's as pro but seperate from this discussion



(hides beneath table)

Dura Ace

Bernie McCormack rode for the Coors and Killians Irish Red teams in the States alongside Alan McCormack in the mid-80's.

Dermot Nally rode for Paternina for a couple of seasons, and had been a stagiare with Colombia-Selle Italia prior to that.

Quigs Snr

David O'loughlin too regardless of how you categorise An Post. He rode pro with Ciaran Power for Navigators in the US.

Quigs Snr

You might also look at the status of the Murphy and Gunn teams and the Pezula teams. They were technically pro teams..

RobFowl

Power and O Loughlin absolutely but maybe on the strenght of their Navigators, Ofto Lombardi, Linda McCartney and St Quentin/oktos teams ?

There has been such a through-put in the the Irish teams that it'll almost double the list above and of the Irish riders DOL is the only one I know for sure is a paid in the SKT. (Deserves it as well).

Slideshowbob

Joe Barr, Finn O'Sullivan, Paul Giles - FS Maestro, c. mid nineties - think they road races like GP E3 etc

Some lad Pitt in Wexford claimed to be a Pro too but would need substantiation!

In my eyes you ain't a real Pro til you start a Grand Tour

The Crunch

GlennaMaddy wrote: »

Can't find any reference to Gary Thompson on the web, you sure you have the name right, must admin that I don't remember there being an Irish interest in ANC Halfords.

Gary Thomson (no 'p') rode for ANC for about half a season in the mid eighties. I seem to remember that he got up in one of his first couple of races and then didn't get a look in after that. I don't think he enjoyed the scene in the UK much...

Jumpy

Tim Allen.

The Crunch

I seem to remember Mick Walsh and John Sheehan among a bunch of Irish full-time riders that headed for the US in the '80s. Did they get a living from the bike or were they just good amateurs?
As for who's a pro and who's an amateur it used to be defined by what it said on your licence rather than where the money in your wallet came from.
There are riders these days who like to call themselves professionals because they bring a professional attitude to unpaid full time racing but are in reality sustained only by social welfare and/or family support. Similarly, there were lots of John Mangan types in the old days who really depended on the envelopes they could glean from local crits to maintain a fairly average lifestyle.
A contract from a team above minimum wage should be what defines professional status. Elliott was surely the first, no?

RobFowl

Slideshowbob wrote: »

Joe Barr, Finn O'Sullivan, Paul Giles - FS Maestro, c. mid nineties - think they road races like GP E3 etc

Some lad Pitt in Wexford claimed to be a Pro too but would need substantiation!

In my eyes you ain't a real Pro til you start a Grand Tour

Hi Bob
I think Joe Barr had a GB licence while with FS Maestro (but I have a vague memory of him winning the only Irish pro title I am aware of in the IOM 1993 or 1994 against Sean Kelly and Martin Earley).

Slideshowbob

http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/results/archives/teams1.html

http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/results/archives/teams3.html

Do a 'find' search under 'irl' and there's 5 pros pop up.

It's a shame such achievements are not as prolific in the pre-internet age.

There was no team An Post for young bucks back then! You had to do it the hard way!

Zipp101

Andrew Roche

Junior

Zipp101 wrote: »

Andrew Roche

Is he not from the Isle of Mann ?

RobFowl

Junior wrote: »

Is he not from the Isle of Mann ?

He is but changed to Irish nationality some years ago and now rides under an Irish licence.
He's ridden for Irish teams as well.

crashoveroid

RobFowl wrote: »

Siobhan Dervan is riding for a Bona fide pro team in Fenixis

Not anymore she has signed for a french team

crashoveroid

[QUOTE=
I assume all the Irish members of the An Post team earn a salary, so they should be included too?

[/QUOTE]

Most of the An Post team are not on a salary they don't get paid they live off the grants they receive.

GlennaMaddy

Slideshowbob wrote: »

http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/results/archives/teams1.html

http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/results/archives/teams3.html

Thanks!, but if Shane Stokes says your a pro, that makes you a pro in my book too!
http://www.irishcycling.com/2000/stokes/03/arc-feb03.htm

=Slideshowbob wrote: »

It's a shame such achievements are not as prolific in the pre-internet age.

Indeed, if you don't appear in a Google result, you never existed to begin with

=Slideshowbob wrote: »

There was no team An Post for young bucks back then! You had to do it the hard way!

This is why I feel the Mangans and O'Hanlon should be on the list, when they went to race on the continent it was a more significant achievement than the more recent guys who have 'graduated' from Irish the racing scene and taken out a pro UCI licence.

RobFowl

GlennaMaddy wrote: »

This is why I feel the Mangans and O'Hanlon should be on the list, when they went to race on the continent it was a more significant achievement than the more recent guys who have 'graduated' from Irish the racing scene and taken out a pro UCI licence.

Your thread and your list so .........;)

musette

Agreed on Gary Thomson. He did indeed ride for ANC Halfords at one stage.

One other is Fran Riordan from Dublin who rode on the Killians Irish Red team in the US in the 80's with the McCormacks and John Brady.

Did Mick Kinsella have a pro career in the US too?


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