#Rowing: Ireland took a silver medal at the World Cup Regatta in Rotterdam. The double of Ronan Byrne and Philip Doyle mastered tough conditions well. They moved steadily up on early leaders Switzerland and Germany, and passed the Germans. They then pushed right up on Switzerland and, with a tremendous finish, closed to under a length off them - .7 of a second - as the crews crossed the line.

World Cup Regatta, Rotterdam, Day Three (Irish interest)

Men

Double Sculls - A Final: 1 Switzerland 6:41.04, 2 Ireland (P Doyle, R Byrne) 6:41.74, 3 Britain 6:44.95.

Women

Pair - A Final: 1 Australia 7:26.15, 2 New Zealand 7:27.57, 3 Britain 7:40.51; Ireland (A Crowley, M Dukarska) 7:50.08.

Lightweight Double Sculls - B Final (places 7 to 12): 6 Ireland (L Heaphy, D Walsh) 7:45.98.

#Rowing: Ireland took three A Final places from their first three races at the World Cup Regatta in Rotterdam this morning.

Philip Doyle and Ronan Byrne, the Ireland men's double, won their race. They took the lead and held it right through. Germany were their closest challengers, while Australia One finished well to to take the third qualification place.

The Ireland women's pair of Monika Dukarska and Aileen Crowley and lightweight single sculler Gary O'Donovan also qualified for A Finals.

The pair took the race to the other crews and led at 1500 metres. Spain and Romania covered the final 500 metres with real pace, but while Romania passed Ireland to win, Dukarska and Crowley came home ahead of Spain, who took the third qualification spot.

Gary O'Donovan finished fast in the semi-final to take second. He had been third for much of the contest. However, Jake McCarthy fell just short, taking fourth. He is set for a B Final.

#Rowing: Ireland’s Philip Doyle and Ronan Byrne finished fourth in their B Final, tenth overall, at the European Rowing Championships in Lucerne this morning. In a good race with an exciting finish, Germany led off as if they intended to dominate. Ireland headed a pack of three who were closest to them. Lithuania were fastest through the last 700 metres and almost caught Germany on the line, while Ireland were pushed out of third by Italy by 17 hundredths of a second.

 Lydia Heaphy and Denise Walsh took sixth in their B Final, 12^th overall. The Netherlands were impressive winners.

European Championships, Lucerne, Day Three (Irish interest)

Men

Double Sculls – B Final (Places 7 to 12): 1 Germany 6:19.30, 2 Lithuania 6:19.44, 3 Italy 6:22.64, 4 Ireland (P Doyle, R Byrne) 6:22.81

Women

Lightweight Double Sculls – B Final (Places 7 to 12): 1 Netherlands 7:05.12; 6 Ireland (D Walsh, L Heaphy) 7:22.38.

#Rowing: Ireland’s Philip Doyle and Ronan Byrne are set for a B Final in the men’s double at the European Championships in Lucerne. The were pushed into fourth in their semi-final by fast-finishing France, who are the reigning world champions. The Netherlands led the race from the start, with Ireland tracking them well and holding second at 1,000 metres. By the final quarter, Britain had pushed into second, and Ireland were just over half a second behind third-placed France on the line.  

European Championships, Lucerne, Day Two (Irish interest)

Men

Double Sculls – Semi-Final One (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 Netherlands 6:11.71, 2 Britain 6:12.61, 3 France 6:13.81; 4 Ireland (P Doyle, R Byrne) 6:14.37.

Lightweight Double Sculls – C Final (Places 13 to 17): 1 Austria (R Kepplinger) 7:09.42; 4 Ireland (G O’Donovan) 7:18.11.

#Rowing: Sanita Puspure and two Ireland men’s crews took medals on the first day of the Memorial Paolo d’Aloja in Italy today. Puspure is world champion in the single sculls and she continued her run with a good win.

 The men’s double of Ronan Byrne and Philip Doyle were another success story from the World Championships in 2018 – they finished ninth. They took third place in their A Final, which was won by Romania.

 The bronze medal for Jake and Fintan McCarthy came in a lightweight doubles final won by Italy, with Belgium second – these crews took silver and bronze at last year’s World Championships.

 The Ireland pairs of Aifric Keogh and Monika Dukarska and Aileen Crowley and Emily Hegarty took fifth and seventh in their final.

 Lough Rinn Grand League Regatta, scheduled for tomorrow (Sunday), has been cancelled. The organisers had hoped to hold the event, and told clubs that some racing would not go ahead. But after receiving a forecast from Met Éireann of a powerful, gusting wind, they changed their decision.    

Memorial Paolo d’Aloja, Piediluco, Italy, Saturday Finals (Irish results; selected)

Men

Double – A Final: 3 P Doyle, R Byrne 6:33.90.

Lightweight Double Sculls – A Final: 3 F McCarthy, J McCarthy 6:38.43.

Women

Pair – A Final: 5 A Keogh, M Dukarska 7:33.3; 7 A Crowley, E Hegarty 7:42.36. B Final: 3 C Feerick, E Lambe 7:45.41.

Lightweight Double – A Final: 6 C Nolan, L Heaphy 7:48.91.

Single – A Final: 1 S Puspure 7:58.89.

#Rowing: An Ireland heavyweight four of Mark O’Donovan, Fionnan Crowley, Andy Harrington and Shane O’Driscoll got its first outing in the second session of the Ireland Trials on Saturday. Their test against Ronan Byrne and Philip Doyle – who did have a handicap of 15 seconds – ended with a victory for the double.

The pair of Monika Dukarska and Aifric Keogh got a battle from the junior double of Molly Curry and Rhiannon O’Donoghue, in a race won by lightweight single sculler Fintan McCarthy.

At the London Head of the River, provisional rankings placed Commercial’s senior eight 20^th.

#Rowing: The double of Philip Doyle and Ronan Byrne performed brilliantly for Ireland last year, culminating with a ninth-place finish at he World Championships. They took up where they left off at the the Ireland Trial at the National Rowing Centre today. The heavyweight crew beat the lightweight double of Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy in a fine race in the first session. McCarthy and O’Donovan had never raced together before, but still finished well and were just over four seconds behind Doyle and Byrne in dead calm conditions.

Some of the contests in this first of two sessions were handicapped to produce good racing and it worked. Sanita Puspure did not win her race but had a very good time, while the pair of Aifric Keogh and Monika Dukarska won in another impressive time.

The new junior coxed four of John Kearney, Jack Dorney, James O’Donovan and Matthew Gallagher, with cox Leah O’Regan were just pipped in their race – but again excelled in terms of time for this boat.

One of the more interesting crews to be trialled was the senior four of Eimear Lambe, Aileen Crowley, Emily Hegarty and Claire Feerick. Another four was to be trialled in the second session. This opens up a possibility of a single, a pair and a four going forward on the women’s heavyweight side.

The combination of Rory O’Neill of Castleconnell and Finn O’Reilly of Skibbereen were the top men’s junior double.

#Rowing: Philip Doyle and Ronan Byrne took ninth in the world in the men’s double at the World Rowing Championships here in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. The Ireland crew finished third in their B Final behind the Netherlands and Poland. They tucked in behind those duelling crews – there was only .35 of a second between them on the line. Ireland did push up to try to break into the top two but finished more than a boat length behind them, but well clear of the other three crews.

World Rowing Championships, Plovdiv, Bulgaria, Day Eight (Irish interest):

Men

Double Sculls – B Final (Places 7 to 12): 1 Netherlands 6:05.10, 2 Poland 6:05.10, 3 Ireland (P Doyle, R Byrne) 6:08.81.

Women

Double Sculls – C Final (Places 13 to 18): 1 Ireland (M Dukarska, A Crowley) 6:54.55, 2 Chile 6:57.29, 3 Italy 6:58.17.

#Rowing: Philip Doyle and Ronan Byrne had a remarkable win in their repechage at the World Rowing Championships here in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. The new Ireland double shot away from the start and opened a clearwater lead over all five of their opponents. Russia and then, over the second half of the race, pushed up but could never catch the Irish, who won by over three seconds.

World Rowing Championships, Plovdiv, Bulgaria, Day Five (Irish interest)

Men

Double Sculls – Repechage Four (First Two to A/B Semi-Final): Ireland (P Doyle, R Byrne) 6:16.96, 2 Bulgaria 6:20.15.

#Rowing: Ireland’s Ronan Byrne and Philip Doyle produced a fine performance in their first competitive race together at the World Rowing Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. The Ireland double were up against it in their heat, with just one crew going directly to the A/B Semi-Finals. New Zealand’s John Storey and Chris Harris made that theirs, using the fast conditions well. Italy and Ireland looked set to battle it out for second, but Doyle and Byrne opened up in the second half of the race and were well clear in second at the line.

 Mark O’Donovan and Shane O’Driscoll finished a disappointing fifth in the men’s pairs heat and will have to compete in a repechage to make the quarter-finals. Canada were impressive winners from South Africa and France, with Ireland and Belarus vying for the crucial fourth place and direct qualification. Ireland had a slight advantage with 500 metres to go, but the Belarussians wrested back the lead and had almost a second to spare crossing the line.

 The women’s pair of Aifric Keogh and Emily Hegarty qualified from their heat for the semi-finals, finishing second.

World Rowing Championships, Plovdiv, Bulgaria, Day One (Irish interest)

Men

Pair – Heat Four (First Four to Quarter-Finals; rest to Repechage): 1 Canada 6:20.46, 2 South Africa 6:21.85, 3 France 6:25.43, 4 Belarus 6:28.22; 5 Ireland (M O’Donovan, S O’Driscoll) 6:29.10

Double Sculls – Heat One (Winner to A/B Semi-Final; rest to Repechages): 1 New Zealand 6:02.23; 2 Ireland (P Doyle, R Byrne) 6:12.61

Women

Pair – Heat One (First Three to A/B Semi-Final; rest to Repechage): 1 New Zealand 6:56.06, 2 Ireland (A Keogh, E Hegarty) 7:11.51, 3 United States 7:13.02.