ROWING/World Cup Regatta:"There's no point going around with our heads down. There's nobody hung yet," quipped Seán Casey of the Ireland heavyweight four. This World Cup had not yielded a single Irish placing in an A final - the four finished 10th overall - but the big Kerryman, like most of the other athletes, had switched focus to the World Championships in Munich next month, where the lion's share of Olympic qualification places will be nailed down.
The Ireland lightweight four, hampered by the absence of the injured Richard Archibald, finished 19th here (first in the D final), but will have the Coleraine man back for Munich. Three other Olympic-class boats finished 16th (fourth in C finals) with varying responses from coach Harald Jahrling: the lightweight women's double of Sinead Jennings and Niamh Ní Chéilleachair go to the Irish training camp in St Moritz and then on to Munich; the women's single scull of Caroline Ryan and the men's quadruple will go no further.
Jahrling's critics say his regime is cold, that the bad results confirm he overtrains his charges and leaves them dispirited.
His explanation is simpler: "They're tired. We had a s*** preparation. Have you been in Ireland? I mean I can't change the weather in the country."
He adds: "Everyone tried very hard - maybe too hard. They all look very tired - it's nothing to do with spirit. It's to do with being fresh and being ready to do it, or being tired and worn out from trying so hard to stay together while (he sweeps his hand upwards) a wave breaks over your head."
Now she has been cut, Ryan has made it clear she will not work with this system again, providing ammunition for those who see the former East German as lacking man-management skills.
"The day when I'm gone, all the critics can feel free to do it better," says Jahrling. "As they all have done before I came. It's been so brilliant in Ireland. It's been so fantastic, the performances. I think maybe the knockers should just do it themselves.
"You can count the number of good performances Ireland has produced in all its history: Seán Drea, who did it on his own, one (lightweight) double performance in 2003 and the two performances of the (lightweight) four that I think were world class. Let's face it, that's all."
Orlagh Duddy's brilliant debut season dipped a little with 10th in the lightweight single scull.
Yesterday saw Irish involvement in two of the best races.
The Britain lightweight four features Coleraine's Richard Chambers and the London-based Meathman James Lindsay-Fynn, who won a World Championship bronze in an Irish vest eight years ago. And Coleraine's Alan Campbell took silver in the single scull.
