Olympic rowing heroes Gary and Paul O'Donovan have paid tribute the the rowing club that drove their Olympic dreams and said that more funding is not "the be all and end all" writes Noel Baker, in Skibbereen.

The O’Donovan brothers “will have sponsors tripping over themselves” to be associated with Ireland’s latest Olympic heroes.

They’re coming home with Olympic silver but it is their comedy gold that has lifted the nation.

In the weeks and months leading up to their historic win yesterday, Paul and Gary O’Donovan would sit on a couch on either side of their grandmother Mary Doab, their laptops in front of them, showing her footage of their training from earlier that day.

It had a sheen of Rio, the carnival atmosphere that descended on the town of Skibbereen when its two Olympians, Paul and Gary O’Donovan, yesterday claimed a place in the men’s lightweight double sculls Olympic final.