ROWING:IRELAND LIGHTWEIGHT coach John Holland has chosen the crew that competed successfully at the Olympic Qualification Regatta to go to the Beijing Olympics. This means Cathal Moynihan will fill the bow seat in preference to Eugene Coakley, a long-time member of the crew who misses the chance to represent Ireland at his second Olympic Games.
In the heavyweight four for Beijing, Alan Martin has lost out to Seán O'Neill for the stroke seat and will be the spare man. Cormac Folan, Seán Casey and Jonno Devlin join O'Neill in the boat.
O'Neill, 27, from Pallasgreen, Co Limerick, took up rowing in New Zealand after moving there as a teenager to play rugby. He moved back to Ireland in 2006 to join coach Harald Jahrling's system and nailed down a place in the four, but not in the stroke seat.
Martin, 26, from Galway, was an ever-present as stroke of the crew during its rise to prominence under Jahrling. He stroked it to Olympic qualification at last year's World Championships. Jahrling, however, chose to place O'Neill in the stroke seat for the recent World Cup in Poznan.
Jahrling gave Casey and Devlin - who came into the crew from the British system last year - a chance to make the Olympics as a pair in the recent qualifier. When they missed out he chose to make them the powerhouse of the four in the middle seats. They effectively take the place of James Wall and Martin in the crew that competed at the World Cup.
Wall and Martin will be part of a coxed pair for the World Championships in Linz, Austria, in two weeks' time.
Coakley, 29, was in the lightweight four that reached the final of the Athens Olympics. He was also part of the crew that won World Championships medals in 2005 and 2006. But he was dropped before the qualifier and has not won back his place in training in Varese in recent weeks.
Moynihan, 27, came into the lightweight four when Towey stepped away from rowing early in 2007. An unsuccessful season had culminated in failure to qualify for Beijing. When Towey returned Moynihan lost his place in the crew, but continued in the system.
He took over from Coakley at short notice and with tangible success in an early-season regatta in Italy this year and was drafted in again before the Olympic qualifier.
"I made a decision I'm happy with the crew I have and I don't see the need to do a trial," Holland said in explaining how Moynihan landed his place for Beijing.
Coakley's younger brother Richard will be the spare man for the crew in Beijing. The Coakley brothers will form a lightweight pair at the World Championships for non-Olympic events in Linz in two weeks' time.
IRELAND CREWS: Four -C Folan, S Casey, J Devlin, S O'Neill (spare man, A Martin). Lightweight four -C Moynihan, G Towey, R Archibald, P Griffin (spare man, R Coakley).
