Irish rowers qualify for Beijing

Rowing:   The Irish men's heavyweight four of Alan Martin (NUIG), Sean Casey (Muckross), Cormac Folan (NUIG) and Sean O'Neill…

Rowing:  The Irish men's heavyweight four of Alan Martin (NUIG), Sean Casey (Muckross), Cormac Folan (NUIG) and Sean O'Neill (St.Michael's) qualified for next year's Olympic Games in Beijing.

Their (M4-) boat finished fourth in today's B final, and 10th overall, at the Rowing World Championships in Munich.
 
It's the first time in almost twenty years that Ireland has qualified a men's heavyweight crew for the Olympics. Pat McDonagh and Frank Moore with cox Liam Williams raced in a heavy pair (M2+) at the Seoul Olympics in 1988.
 
The Irish men's lightweight four (LM4-) race tomorrow in their B final with the same prize at stake;  the top five in the six boat race will qualify for Beijing.