O’Donovans not resting on their laurels: ‘Hopefully there’s more to come’

“We’re delighted that we’re Ireland’s first ever Olympic rowing medallists. We tried to win the gold medal and we really gave it everything out there.“

Ireland’s Olympic Games have finally officially kicked off after Skibbereen brothers Gary and Paul O’Donovan streaked to rowing silver, roared by a passionate large Irish support in Rio, writes Will Downing.

At the Estadio Lagoa, the specially-built stadium at the Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas lagoon north of Ipanema, the O’Donovans surged up from fifth place to claim the first ever rowing medal won by Ireland in Olympic history – the 30th claimed by Ireland since debuting in its own right since 1924.