Testing start for Irish at World Rowing Junior Championships

James O’Connor

Irish crews will need to dig deep tomorrow morning after a tough start to the World Rowing Junior Championships in Racice, Czech Republic.

The first team to race were the men’s coxed four of Eoin Finnegan (St Joseph’s RC), Conor Mulready (Castleconnell), James O’Donovan (Castleconnell), Fintan O’Driscoll (Carlow) and Eoin Gaffney of Shandon who qualified directly for the A/B semi-final on Saturday after finishing second place in their heat.

The boys led the way for the majority of the race, but a late surge from Canada saw them overtake Ireland, with the top three boats qualifying.

Next up was the women’s pair of Fermoy RC oarswomen, Gill McGirr and Ellie O’Reilly. With the USA crew storming to a 17-second victory, it was a race for second among the chasing pack, but Ireland could only hold out for fourth place.

The Irish men’s quad of Jack Keating (Carlow) and Shandon’s Jack Dorney, Alex Byrne and Luke Hayes-Nally also finished fourth in their heat behind Switzerland, New Zealand and Italy.

The women’s double of Ciara Moynihan and Ciara Browne, both Workmen’s RC, held a steady pace to finish in fifth place.

All three boats will now need big performances in each of tomorrow morning’s repechage to keep their medal dreams alive.