Rowing Round-upIreland's heavyweight four yesterday took bronze at the World Under-23 Championships in Belgrade.
In an event where four of the five Irish crews competing made A finals, the performance of the coxless four was the headline.
NUIG men Alan Martin (21), Marc Stephens (21) and Paul Giblin (20) and Skibbereen's Kenny McCarthy (22) showed that not all the glory in Irish rowing need be at lightweight level when they finished behind winners Romania and second-placed Germany.
Paul O'Sullivan also enhanced his reputation, finishing sixth in the A final in the extremely tough men's senior single scull.
The 22-year-old Skibbereen man returned this year from the University of California, Berkeley, where he had rowed in crew boats, but showed he had the raw talent to mix it with the best single scullers in his age group by effectively finishing sixth of 21 competitors.
Ireland's men's lightweight four also did well yesterday, finishing fourth in their A final, in a race won by Australia. The crew of Ciarán Hayes, Richard Coakley, Daniel O'Dowd and Dave Mannion made good progress in the last 1,000 metres.
The men's pair of Stuart King and Mike Ryder, both only 19, had to settle for fourth in the B final, but Ireland's one woman competitor, Cork's Alison Downey, made the A final in the lightweight single scull, finishing sixth.
Meanwhile, England won the senior men, senior and junior womens team matches at the Home Countries Rowing International Regatta, at the National Rowing Centre, Farran Wood, Inniscarra Lake, Co Cork, on Saturday. Ireland won the junior men's team match by one point from England.
