Ireland ended its campaign at the 2018 World Rowing Junior Championships in Racice today with two boats placing fifth in B Finals, to rank 11th in the world at junior level.
The junior men's coxed four of Eoin Finnegan (cox), Conor Mulready (bow), James O’Donovan, Fintan O’Driscoll and Eoin Gaffney (stroke) took to the water at 8.30am BST to race against Canada, Croatia, South Africa, Russia and the Ukraine.
Ireland went well at the start, racing neck and neck with Russia at the front of the field to hold second position at 500m. Canada and Croatia soon challenged however to take first and second place at the finish and the Irish crew dropped back into third then fifth place when South Africa and Russia pushed ahead of them.
The boys from Castleconnell, Carlow, St. Joseph's and Shandon will have gained invaluable experience however competing at World Junior level and reaching a B Final which allowed them to secure their overall 11th position. Coach, Fran Keane, can surely only be happy overall with the boys' performance.
Ireland's junior women's pair of Fermoy oarswomen Gill McGirr and Ellie O'Reilly raced in the B Final of their event immediately after the JM4+. The women's event resulted in a more tightly packed field with all boats in contention for a top three place until the final hooter. Hungary were strong winners and GB and Germany finished second and third in that order. Despite a strong push for the line the Irish boat was squeezed into fourth place in a photo finish with Romania by one fifth of a second.
It was an impressive effort by the young Fermoy women who have been coached throughout by their club coach, Ray Morrison. The junior women's pair also placed 11th in the world overall at the end of the regatta.
Yesterday (Saturday) saw two Irish boats race in C Finals at the World Junior Championships. The junior men's quad of Jack Keating (stroke, Carlow), Jack Dorney, Alex Byrne and Luke Hayes-Nally (all Shandon) placed second in their event to place 14th overall while the junior women's double of Ciara Moynihan (bow) and Ciara Browne (stroke) both from Workmen's RC came fourth in their C final to place 16th overall.
Rowing Ireland CEO, Michelle Carpenter, who was in Racice throughout the week as team manager, said: "I am incredibly proud of these athletes, some of whom were competing in their first ever international event, rowing for Ireland at this high level. Each of these young rowers put a lot of hard work and commitment into the pre-event training camps and the World Championships themselves, together with incredible support from their parents, families and clubs.
"It is fantastic that as a country we have two junior crews who are just outside the World top ten. This event showed us the high standard that exists at World Rowing Junior level. This was evidenced by the umber of World records broken this weekend alone in particular in heats and repechages. We are looking forward to continuing to work with these young athletes as they continue their junior and U23 pathway with us next year.
"I would like to take this opportunity to thank every single one of the team together with their coaches, Fran Keane and Ray Morrison as they are also volunteers who have been involved throughout the year. They have given a massive amount of time and commitment to this young dynamic group. In addition I would like to thank those who travelled in numbers to ensure our voice was heard on the grandstand in Racice. At the end of the day we are all Rowing Ireland.
