ROWING:IRELAND'S RETURN to form in the lightweight four has been impressive this season, but yesterday's World Cup final in Lucerne gave them a sharp lesson in how hot this event is.
The Ireland crew of Eugene Coakley, Gearóid Towey, Richard Archibald and Paul Griffin could only finish sixth in a race won by a fired-up China, who were chased home by the Olympic champions, Denmark, and the 2005 world champions, France.
Recent pace-setters Germany - like Ireland, seeking to qualify for the Olympics this month - and the reigning world champions, Britain, filled fourth and fifth.
The Irish had come through a thrilling semi-final, holding off Australia for third place in a race won by France from Britain.
Griffin said the effort may have taken its toll. "We probably paid for a very hard race yesterday. We'll take the positives from that - it was a brilliant race."
The Kerryman said it was effectively two seasons since his crew had contended at this level, and the weekend was a crucial learning experience.
"The biggest thing we have to learn is how intense it is. It has moved on from two years ago."
He added that they will go into the Olympic Qualifier in Poznan, Poland, on Sunday week a better crew for their experience. "We're going to be race-sharp," he said.
The men's pair of Jonno Devlin and Seán Casey were created with that qualifier in mind, and they did themselves a power of good by taking third place in the B final yesterday and ninth overall.
This was a big step up from their 19th place at the first World Cup in Munich, and they put two of the qualified crews - Germany and Serbia - behind them.
"We're heading in the right direction, and we've got two weeks now to get it right," said Casey.
Coach Harald Jahrling is hopeful about the pair joining the only Ireland crew qualified, the men's four.
"I think we are a little closer to a dream we had that we would get six heavyweights to the Olympics. We just keep working on it and when the dream is over we just call it over."
The Ireland men's four finished fourth in their B final for 10th overall - the same position as in the World Championships last year and in Munich last month.
Germany and Britain, who had failed to make the A final, filled the top two places. Ireland finished well enough, just 0.24 of a second off Canada in third.
