“We got a great welcome in Dublin, but this is crazy,” said Olympic bronze medallist Daire Lynch as he surveyed the 2,000-plus crowd that thronged Kickham Plaza in his native Clonmel to welcome him and his crewmate, Philip Doyle, to Tipperary town following their success in Paris.
The crowds had been gathering from about 5pm and the cheer that went up when Lynch (26) and Doyle (31) arrived shortly after 6pm was deafening with both athletes sporting the medals that they earned in the Men’s Double Sculls final.
MC Tom Fennessy of Clonmel Rowing Club reminded the crowd to loud cheers that Lynch was the first Tipperary athlete to bring an Olympic medal back to the county since hurdler Bob Tisdall from Nenagh won a gold medal in Los Angeles in 1932.
Fennessy warmly welcomed Doyle and his mother Una from Banbridge, Co Down, to Clonmel, pointing out that Doyle was an adopted Clonmel man as Una’s grandfather, the late Bill Hyland, was a native of the town and a noted sportsman in his day.
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President of Clonmel Rowing Club, Dermot Dougan, noted how the club, which celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2019, was going from strength to strength and he predicted that Lynch’s success would lead to even better days ahead for the club, which now has more than 200 members.
Club vice captain Pat Kinsella recalled how Lynch stood out from an early age, winning a race in Fermoy against much older competition when just 15 years old, and he realised he had a special athlete on his hands when Lynch started emailing some of the top rowers in Europe for tips.
Among those watching on were Lynch’s parents, Niall and Joanne, his siblings, Brian, Conor and Aoife and cathaoirleach of Tipperary County Council, Cllr Declan Burgess and mayor of Clonmel, Cllr Michael Murphy as they heard also Doyle pay tribute to his team-mate.
And then it was the turn of Lynch, who said that from the first day he went down to Clonmel Rowing Club, he was hooked on the sport, as he thanked everyone in the club for their support and the people of Clonmel who had been cheering him on from home.
“It was only after the race that I saw the video of people here in Clonmel who had gathered to watch the race and it was incredible to see what it meant to people – over the following week I must have shown the video to half of Paris, so thank you for all your support,” he said to tumultuous cheers.
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