7 Medals For Ireland In Stellar Rowing Weekend

Seven Irish Crews headed to the Coupe de la Jeunesse, Libourne France this weekend with great expectations and hopes. Today they are coming home with a haul of 7 medals. One gold, four silver and two bronze from this two day International event. With five of the seven crews on the podium.

The day started well yesterday with a win for the men's pair, Cork twin brothers David and Brian Keohane. Followed swiftly by another medal, this time a silver to Limerick men and Club rivals David O'Malley and Connor Carmody. They fought hard on both days to beat the strong Hungarians who took gold on both day's but kept the rest of the field at bay.

Later in the day the Women's double of Jasmine English and Eimear Lambe stormed through to get a bronze medal. With Italy in first and Switzerland in second.

The Women's quad came back after a disappointing heat to win their B Final convincingly.

The day finished well for the Irish Team with a win in the Women's pair of sisters Derval and Oisin Forde The Spanish pair took gold in the event with a commanding lead of all crews on both days. And the Irish girls took the silver leaving most of the field behind.

Sunday started off well with 5 of the seven crews making finals. This time the Keohane brothers lost out on a medal by taking fourth place. Ireland's spirit was soon lifted with a silver again in the double of David O'Malley and Connor Carmody. The quad four were next up, having been delighted to get through to the A final after winning the B final yesterday. They started well on the blocks level with all other crews and level again a 500m with only a second between each boat. The field was tight the whole way down the course with nothing in it between all six crews. In the last 500m they broke through to storm home by a length. A deserved Gold by the Irish Team coached by Alan Penkert and David O'Donovan.

The huge delegation of Irish spectators and supporter's enjoyed the flag being raised and both crews, parents and supporters roused to the National Anthem finally being played.
The double of Eimear Lambe and Jazmine English missed out narrowly on another medal to take fourth place and the Women's quad took second in the B final.

Single sculler Erin Barry had been ill during the recent Irish Championships and had to withdraw. The rower and the coach thought she had recovered enough to compete at the Coupe but unfortunately that was not the case. Erin had to withdraw due to illness after a disappointing race on Saturday.

The day finished with a seventh medal for Ireland in the Women's pair where they kept the rest of the field in place and secured second place convincingly.With the team bringing home a tally of seven medals, the future of Irish rowing with the success of these young rower is looking exceptionally promising.

The Team are as follows:
Women's 2x: Eimear Lambe & Jasmine English (coach John Armstrong)
Women's 4x: Kirstie Turner, Aoife O'Keeffe, Claire Beechinor, Emily Hegarty (Coach Jer Field)
Women's pair: Derval and Oisin Forde Coach Moncho Ferrer
Women's scull: Erin Barry (Coach John Armstrong)
Men's pair: Brian and David Keohane (coach Fran Keane)
Men's double: David O'Malley and Connor Carmody (coach Pat McInerney)