Connemara Shooting School

"Very strange and disappointing experience overall While Shane was quirky and eccentric, it doesn't explain how rude, defensive, condensing and arrogant he was at times Shane was chastising people for things they couldn't know and singling people out and belittling them in front of everyone. The level of arrogance was off the charts. At one point , he slapped one of the group on the hand for clarifying his understanding on something. Totally unacceptable. The business isn't set up for groups- education method or facilities. There is alot of standing around .... From reading his responses to other constructive reviews on here, you can see it's met with more arrogance and denial. Edit in response (18/4/23). For the record, no one was doing anything dangerous. Guns are very dangerous and everyone was keen to learn. Yes people were happy, professional and engaging... You were just being extremely rude in the delivery of the session. Most people wanted to leave mid way but we stayed for our friend. You said safety was your primary concern. Lets exam that point. ..as there were loads of obvious concerns. 1. The pics on your site are misleading and you dont have any facilities at you house, there is no where to stand (a few make shift boards to stand on ) surrounded by grass/mud on a slope, no proper access points (no path), no paper work to read risks or our rights should there be an accident . Is there public liability insurance? 2. You directed us to shoot in the direction (right) of your house to hit the targets (see pic)...someone could easily walk into your garden and be fired or hit looking out the window of your house. It felt like a very dangerous set up Customer experience and safety....both felt very lacking.I would hope you address this in the future as on the plus side, there are great views from there and its a lovely part of the country"

"Finally a person and place that will offer good advice and offer great shooting and the advice works! Shane's shooting ground is on the side of a hill overlooking the Atlantic ocean with a beach below him and a lovely location. The man is old fashioned in dress but far from old fashioned in the delivery of his product. Safety is a paramount factor at Shane's ground and his briefing is clear on how to remain safe and how to succeed at this sport. So much so that my friends and I intend buying our own shotguns and seriously taking up this sport! We'll be returning to Shane for more lessons and more shooting on his Skeet field and his Sporting layout in the near future. Many thanks for a great day!"

"Shane was an incredible instructor. We were both complete beginners and he was accommodating and helpful the entire time. We had a great time despite the rain. Will be recommending this to any of our friends who plan to visit Ireland."

"Spent a wonderful afternoon with Shane and his lovely pet dog. Very friendly and charismatic instructor. Cannot recommend highly enough."

"Unfortunately we had a very negative experience with Shane. On 28th March I booked a shooting party for 9 with Shane over the phone. I provided details of our experience levels, we discussed cost, what was included etc and confirmed the booking on the same call for Friday 15th April, meeting outside the entrance to Ballynahinch Castle at 09 30. We arrived as planned at the agreed time / location but Shane was not there. When I called Shane in a friendly manner to advise that we were ready for him, he advised that he didn't know who I was and had no record of my booking. He was combative from the off and said that he had no text or email from me and nothing in his diary for our shoot. When I reminded Shane of the details and when / how the booking had been made, he again insisted that he had heard nothing from me and had no record of a party of 9. This I am afraid was clearly disingenuous as I had not mentioned on our call that morning that we were a party of 9 so Shane clearly had a record or a memory of the booking and had obviously made an error. Rather than acknowledging and apologizing for the error which I and the group would have readily accepted, Shane stated that there was no point in arguing and gave me the choice of either forgetting about the booking or that he could be there in 30 minutes and ready for the shoot in 40 minutes. I was totally taken aback at how exceptionally rude Shane was but did not want to let the group down and said that we would like to go ahead with the shoot. Shane promptly cut me off and ended the call, hanging up on me as I was mid sentence. I had to confirm by text that Shane was proceeding with the appointment as I was uncertain whether or not he intended to go ahead after our phone call. When I explained to the group what had happened on the call, we unanimously decided that no one wanted to proceed with the shoot given how rude and dishonest Shane had been. I wanted no further interaction with him and we left Ballynahinch. I received a subsequent text from Shane, clearly annoyed that we had left the castle without informing him. There was no acknowledgement of our time wasted or awareness of how his hostile attitude from the very start had resulted in our not wanting to go ahead with the shoot or engage with him any further. I have stayed at Ballynahinch on many occasions over the years and have always had a wonderful time with the fantastic staff. Before leaving, I spoke with the General Manager who apologized profusely and understood why we did not want to continue with the shoot nor interact any further with Shane. I note that Shane has many positive reviews but regretfully our experience was entirely negative. Perhaps we just got him on a bad day! I would recommend that in future, if Shane requires further confirmation subsequent to the booking that he either confirms himself by text or email 24 or 48 hours before or asks his clients to do so in order to avoid confusion on his part and maintain his bookings accurately. I would also suggest that where a genuine error is made, that a positive and friendly interaction with clients will result in a far better outcome."