Skibb pair were fed up of fourth

Greater belief was the secret to the ascent of Skibbereen pair Shane O’Driscoll and Mark O’Donovan to the top of their sport in 2018, according to O’Driscoll.

Speaking after receiving an award at the Irish Youth Foundation Excellence in Sport Awards at the Clayton Hotel in Dublin, O’Driscoll — who won gold medals for Ireland at both the 2017 European and World Rowing Championships in the lightweight men’s pair category with O’Donovan — reflected on past near-misses and said the pair resolved this would be the year they stepped up a level.

“We had a bit more belief in ourselves and to put it simply, we didn’t want to come fourth again. We wanted to win a medal at every regatta,” said O’Driscoll.