Irish fours are confident of salvaging medal dream

THE Irish lightweight fours are in confident mood ahead of their second bid for an Olympic semi-final in today’s repechage at the Shunyi Park (9.40am, Irish time).

A fourth-placed finish behind Germany, France and Australia in Sunday’s opening heat means Gearóid Towey, Cathal Moynihan, Paul Griffin and Richard Archibald must take the scenic route to keep their medal dreams alive.

They are drawn in lane two alongside the United States, the Netherlands and Egypt with the first three home making Thursday’s semi-finals. The Irish are favourites to win this morning with their heat time of 5.52.32 almost four seconds faster that the Americans, the quickest of their opponents. Such was the pace of Sunday’s race that the Irish time of 5:52 would have qualified them from the two other heats.