Matthew Gallagher of St Josephs College “The BISH”
Rowing Club was part of the Junior Mens Coxed 4+ that represented Ireland at
the European Junior Championships held in Essen, Germany where the crew secured
a silver medal in the hotly contested “A” final.
The Irish and German crews produced a thrilling
finish after they had gone toe to toe throughout the race, with Germany marginally
ahead coming into the final 200 metres.
Ireland sprinted, only to fall short by three tenths
of a second. Turkey took bronze.
The Irish coaching team of Fran Keane and John Walsh
also from “The BISH” Rowing Club, were “delighted” with the result. The crew
of Matthew Gallagher, James O’Donovan (Castleconnell
Boat Club), Jack Dorney, (Shandon Boat Club) John Kearney (Cork Boat Club) and cox Leah
O’Regan (Shandon Boat Club) have been pre-selected for the World Junior
Championships and they remain fixed on the goal of performing there.
According to Rowing Ireland’s Assistant Coach for
Junior Men, John Walsh,it was a great result from the crew who showed great
maturity in their performances throughout the competition. They will take
a lot of positives from this result and will continue their preparation for the
Junior World Championships which take place in Tokyo, Japan on 7-11 August
2019. Sterner tests await the Irish crew there with countries such as USA,
Australia, Canada, New Zealand and China all coming into the fray but this
success and a coveted European Silver Medal should be celebrated by the crew
and by Gallagher who now puts the focus back into his preparations for the
Leaving Certificate Examination.
EUROPEAN
JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS
At
Essen, Germany
Men’s
Junior Four, coxed – A Final:
1 Germany 6:19.88, 2 Ireland (M Gallagher, J
O’Donovan, J Dorney, J Kearney; cox: L O’Regan) 6:20.18, 3 Turkey 6:22.12.
