The banks of the lake at Inniscarra were muddy; the drizzle which had afflicted the venue on the weekend of the National Rowing Championships in July soaked the caravans and tents. A local radio station asked for an interview with two successful competitors, and they stood in the rain and passed the mobile phone back and forward. Then the track-suited figures moved away, unheralded, through the mist and muck, deep in conversation.

Best in the world? Neville Maxwell and Tony O'Connor do not throw shapes. Arrogance is not the word that comes to mind when you talk to the Galwayman and his London-born, Limerick-schooled comrade in arms ("my father is an engineer and we moved around. I lived in Canada, too - a bit of a mixed grill," says O'Connor).

And yet this week when you ask: "How will you do in the World Championships?" Neville leans across to make his point, his tone assured: "I think we are going to win it." Tony, the one with the serious gaze and ironic smile, is generally more reserved. Not this time. "It is quite simple. If we row well, we will win it. If anyone else takes it, it's hats off to them."

The "we" in this case is the men's lightweight coxless four, which left Dublin last night for the World Rowing Championships in Cologne, which begin on Sunday. O'Connor, 29, who sets the rhythm of the boat (strokes it) and Maxwell, 28, team up with the experienced Brendan Dolan, 32, and Derek Holland, 24. By a week on Sunday the predictions for the boat will have been shown to be wild and unfounded or justified and another cause of celebration for Ireland on an international stage.

None of the four should be out of their depth. Dolan joined the four this year fresh from his biggest success, which came last year in the shape of a World Championship silver in the lightweight quadruple scull at Aiguebelette in France. Holland, son of the coach of the crew, John Holland, is actually a longterm member of the four: with O'Connor, Maxwell and Sam Lynch he was part of the crew which came within seconds of a bronze medal at the Atlanta Olympics.

But O'Connor and Maxwell, the Neptune clubmen who first teamed up in 1994, stand out as two of Ireland's best rowers - indeed two of Ireland's best athletes. They have competed in three World Championships as a pair (Indianapolis 1994, Strathclyde in Scotland 1996 and Aiguebelette 1997) and their record reads bronze, silver, silver, in addition to their near miss at Atlanta. This year their club, having an uncharacteristically colourless year, gave the National Championships a real lash - Maxwell and O'Connor won four titles each, with Maxwell setting a record of 15 senior titles in total.

But do they have World Championship-winning form? On the face of it this has been a long way short of the perfect season. A rib problem severely limited O'Connor's participation during the year, and with Noel Monahan filling in the four could only finish fifth in the B final at the Hazewinkel World Cup regatta in June.

Early last month, with O'Connor restored, they travelled to a regatta in Copenhagen, where the sole aim was to test themselves against the World and Olympic champions, the Danes. Failure would have meant jeopardising their chance of travelling to Cologne. "We went to Copenhagen with a gun to our heads," says Neville. They passed with flying colours, pushing the all-conquering home crew close on both the Saturday and Sunday.

That one race has provided the basis for their belief that by next week they will be able to take on and beat the rest. "It is clicking," says Neville. "We are going much better than in Copenhagen; we have come out of a period of injury for Tony and uncertainty for the rest of us."

But have they raced enough to justify such optimism? "With the experience we have in the boat, racing is not a major factor," says Neville. "One or two races a year is enough. You make your mistakes - then you go to work on them."