Olympics - Rowing: It's not a route that anyone wanted, but the Irish lightweight four will need to pick themselves up for Tuesday's repachage after failing to qualify directly for the semi-finals this morning.
The crew of Colin Moynihan, Gearoid Towey, Richard Archibald and Paul Griffin had been expected to avoid the repachage, essentially a back door route into the semis, but trailed home last in their opening heat today.
After an unusually sluggish opening 500 metres, in which too much ground was conceded to their rivals, the Irish were over three seconds down on eventual winners Germany at the halfway stage.
And while the closing 500 metres has traditionally been this crew's forte, they simply could not bridge the gap with the French and Polish claiming the two other semi-final berths.