ROWING: Albert Maher, the premier Irish single sculler of recent years, was the biggest casualty of the national trials in Cork over the weekend.

The Commercial man was beaten into second place by Seán Casey of Muckross in Saturday's open sculling heats. And while Maher qualified for yesterday's final, he said he didn't feel well and pulled out. He confirmed afterwards he had felt "a bit off all weekend" and would be going for tests this week.

Casey won yesterday's final in seven minutes flat, with Commercial's Seán Jacob only a second behind. Paul O'Sullivan, Con Collis and Ciarán Lewis were further back, but O'Sullivan and Collis have been asked to stay on at the trials for the rest of the week, with the option to join the sculling programme also given to Serryth Colbert and John Forde, who were the fastest open pair.

When asked, Maher said he felt the weekend had not suggested that Ireland had a prospect of an Olympic boat at heavyweight level this year, despite intensive training by some of his colleagues.

Commercial's Niall O'Toole kept his hopes of a place in Athens alive with an impressive win in the men's lightweight single scull final.

In the women's lightweight single, Sinead Jennings and Heather Boyle look set to form Ireland's double for the Olympic qualifiers in June after finishing first and second in yesterday's final.

Back in Dublin, the colours races on the Liffey on Saturday generated a real sense of occasion, but two one-sided races.

Trinity's senior men had taken a commanding lead in the Gannon Cup within a few hundred metres of the start, and went on to win by a distance, while UCD's women had two and a half lengths to spare in the Corcoran Cup race.

Meanwhile, the Irish Amateur Rowing Union is seriously thinking of leaving its new home in Parkwest. "The office move has been an unmitigated disaster," Frank Durkin, the union's president told the union's a.g.m on Saturday at the venue, citing poor phone and email systems. A substantial cut in state aid is also a worry, Durkin added.

An impressive presentation by Leinster director Audrey Phelan suggested the new rowing strategic plan needed to consider the profile of the sport and how it could be improved. Durkin wants any success in Athens to be turned to good use and asked for support from those involved.