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sport · Friday 21 August 2026 · TBD 
Irish International Open Canoe Polo
At Mullingar Harbour · Mullingar Harbour, Royal Canal, Mullingar, Co. Westmeath
At Mullingar Harbour · Mullingar Harbour, Royal Canal, Mullingar, Co. Westmeath
Canoe polo does not look anything like what most people picture when they hear the word “polo.” Five players a side, all in kayaks, using paddle blades to pass and shoot a water polo ball through a suspended goal - it is fast, physical, and surprisingly easy to follow from the bank. The Irish International Open at Mullingar Harbour runs across a full weekend in August and draws club teams from across Europe, making it one of the more genuinely international sporting occasions you will find in the Irish midlands all year. If you have never seen the sport, this is a good first encounter: the harbour is compact, the pool of play is right in front of you, and the action rarely stops.
Mullingar Harbour Canoe Polo Club - founded only in 2019 by Ivan MacDonald - has built an outsized reputation in a short time. The club hosts the Irish International Open, the National Club Championships, and “Overload,” a junior training camp that pulls young athletes from across the country. The harbour itself offers space for up to four simultaneous canoe polo pitches, which is rare and makes the event viable at a scale that few Irish venues could manage.
The August Open typically runs from Friday evening through Sunday, with competitive divisions spread across the weekend. Teams compete in pools before progressing to knockout rounds, so there is near-continuous match play across multiple pitches from morning until late afternoon. The pace of individual games is high: bouts last around twenty minutes, turn-around is quick, and the atmosphere on the bank gets louder as the weekend progresses. The club has over 100 members and eight of its players have gone on to represent Ireland at national level, which gives some measure of how far the standard has risen since the club began.
Mullingar is the county town of Westmeath, sitting at the junction of the N4 (Dublin - Sligo) and N52. From Dublin it is roughly an hour by road. The town is also well served by Irish Rail - Mullingar station is on the Dublin Heuston to Sligo line, with several services daily in each direction, and the station is about a ten-minute walk from the harbour. The harbour itself is on the Royal Canal, right in the town centre, so it is easy to locate. On-street parking is available around the harbour area; on busy match days, parking in the town centre and walking down is a practical option.
Mullingar is a working midlands town with a good range of cafes and pubs along its main streets, and Lough Ennell - one of the finest coarse fishing and recreational lakes in the country - is a short drive to the south. There is more to see in Mullingar and across Co. Westmeath.
Heading to Mullingar Harbour in Mullingar? Westmeath has plenty more to see. Read the Mullingar area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.