Welsh debutants catch the eye at Celtic Cup as Ireland pull off stunning comeback win

Last weekend, the famous River Weaver in Cheshire was the setting for the 2025 Celtic Cup, with Wales taking their turn to host this year, and with thanks to the support of Northwich Angling Association.

An annual event, the Celtic Cup is a friendly developmental competition giving up and coming coarse anglers the opportunity to fish for Wales, alongside current internationals, battling it out against Ireland and Scotland.

This year, led once again by manager Ben Roberts, there were three Wales teams; Wales White (James ‘Marge’ Thomas, Lee Salisbury, Iain Swanson, Euan Luke); Wales Green (Rob Taylor, Steven Roberts, Rich Hopkins, Simon Pickering) and Wales Red (Ty Woods, Shane Lee, Scott Thomas, Matthew Powell).

In addition, rising star Ronnie Jay ‘RJ’ Lawson and Gareth Evans, both Welsh anglers, were also involved and, as well as fishing for Wales, were also part of Scotland and Ireland's combined teams, respectively, over the two competition days.

Young RJ, just 14 years old, was making his debut for Wales and caught a lovely net of fish in B section on day two – one to watch for the future.

Congratulations in particular to newcomer Scott Thomas who topped the overall individual standings; Simon Pickering won the match on day one with Lee Salisbury, making his debut, winning it on day two. Fellow newcomer Shane Lee also finished fifth overall individually.

Lee Salisbury

In terms of the team result, Wales Red were just beaten to the trophy by Ireland Grey, with the Irish pulling off an incredible comeback on day two to cancel out Wales’ four-point lead after day one and take the win on countback.

“It’s been a tough one to take for us, especially going into the final day with a four-point lead overall and five points ahead of Ireland,” said Wales team manager Ben Roberts.

“We scored eight penalty points on day one (in nine-peg sections) and 13 on day two, but due to the ruling where an Ireland C-team angler – due to it being a combined Welsh/Ireland team – can move up to their B-team if they score higher – a seven-point swing in C section – we ended up tied on points, and Ireland took it on countback.

"At the end of the day, those are the rules and we have to respect them. I’ve got to take my hat off to Ireland – they came back brilliantly today and clearly worked the venue out superbly.

Wales Red

“Massive credit to our lads – really proud of the whole team.”

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