ROWING 2008 FINAL OLYMPIC QUALIFICATION REGATTAIRELAND'S LIGHTWEIGHT four won their heat yesterday and swept straight into tomorrow's final at the Olympic Qualification regatta in Poznan.

It was an important win for this new-look crew, with Cathal Moynihan in for Eugene Coakley in the bow seat. They avoid a draining repechage today and will have one of the two favoured lanes in the final, alongside Germany, who won their heat impressively. Only two crews can land Olympic places tomorrow.

The Irish powered away from long-time leaders Spain in the closing stages yesterday, roared on by a small but vocal bunch of supporters, who added colour on a drab, rainy, day.

The crew of Moynihan, Gearóid Towey, Richard Archibald and Paul Griffin felt they could have done better, especially in the middle stages of the race.

"There are certain things we need to work on," said Moynihan. "Our start was fairly good; the Spanish went off fairly quickly, which we expected, but we didn't draw them in quite as quickly as we would have liked. I suppose we just have to nail down our rhythm a bit more. We've only been a week together."

Towey said the race went as they expected, at least in the early stages. "The only thing different was we didn't expect them (Spain) to hang on for so long. We thought, maybe, that at 1,500 (metres) we'd have them within reach. We just had to work a little longer to get them."

Serbia, who would hope to be in the shake-up tomorrow, finished behind Spain, in third. "They've been changing around their race plan," said Griffin. "Today they tried to move in the second 500, and they came right back on us. But in the third 500 we just held them off and moved away."

The test given by Spain was no harm, Griffin said. "They forced us to look hard at where we're at and what we need to do for the final - rather than us getting a soft run-in."

The crew are targeting a win tomorrow, not just aiming for a top-two place. "Germany are the crew to beat," said Towey. "Obviously, if we are to have any Olympic ambitions, they're our target. We're going out to race them, not to target qualification."

Their ambitions stretch beyond getting through tomorrow. "We all want to do as well as we can at the Olympics. Going to the Games is not a motivation. Going to the Games and doing well is the motivation. We've been very honest with ourselves all year, and you have to continue that. We don't want to take the plane to Beijing to make up the numbers."

Griffin says targeting a win over Germany will also put them in the right frame of mind. "It's a good way, psychologically, to approach the final. Rather than racing negatively to not come outside the top two, we want to beat the Germans."

Ireland's pair of Jonno Devlin and Seán Casey and the lightweight double of Richard and Eugene Coakley must move up another rung from their good performances in their heats if they are to make it through their semi-finals today.

The pair have avoided pace-setters Canada, but the double have both New Zealand and Spain in their heat. The Ireland crews must finish in the top three to qualify for the final.

Poland's Tomasz Kucharski and Robert Sycz, the Olympic champions in the lightweight double in 2000 and 2004, saw their chances of going to Beijing shattered here yesterday. They failed to get through to the semi-final, finishing fifth in their heat.