It’s been a while since Irish rowing had a day so distanced from the medals, all three boats in Saturday’s first final session at the European Championships finished well off the podium positions.
Staged around the magnificent setting of Lake Bled in Slovenia, the new pairing of Fintan McCarthy and Hugh Moore were looking to continue the remarkable run of Irish success in the lightweight men’s double, but had to settle for sixth, victory there going to the Swiss crew of Jan Schaeuble and Raphael Ireland.
They finished in 6:13.81, ahead of Italy and Greece, with McCarthy and Moore finishing sixth in the six-boat final (finishing in 6:22.31). Moore, from the Queens Boat Club in Belfast, was sitting in for Paul O’Donovan, who on Friday graduated in medicine at UCC.
McCarthy, the reigning Olympic, World and European champion, was chasing a third successive European title, the Skibbereen man last winning with O’Donovan in Munich last August.
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The women’s lightweight double of Margaret Cremen and Aoife Casey, who won a brilliant World Championship bronze medal last year, took fifth in their final. Never in medal contention, victory there went to Britain in 6:53:32, the Irish pair finishing in 6:59.64.
Earlier, the Irish women’s four team also had to settle for fifth, finishing 15 seconds down on Romania, who upset reigning champions Britain on the line, clocking a new European Championship best time in the process.
The Irish crew – Aifric Keogh, Eimear Lambe and Fiona Murtagh of the Olympic bronze crew from Tokyo – joined here by Tara Hanlon, found themselves sixth at the halfway point, before making up one place in the second half of the race. The Romanians clocked 6:22.69, Ireland were fifth in 6:38.75. Which was disappointing given they finished second behind Britain at last year’s European Championships, beating Romania on that occasion too.
Philip Doyle and Daire Lynch booked their place in Sunday’s men’s double A final after finishing second in their semi-final.
Siobhán McCrohan of Tribesmen Rowing Club will also go in Sunday’s final of the lightweight women’s scull, as will the women’s double of Zoe Hyde and Sanita Puspure. The para mixed double of Katie O’Brien and Steven McGowan also go in their A final.
