Trinity College and Garda finished second and third in an exciting senior A eighths final at Ghent regatta in Belgium yesterday, concluding two days in which the big Irish contingent produced creditable displays.
Garda, in their newly-acquired Empacher boat, had only missed the final on Saturday by less than a second in a fast heat, but Trinity had something of a disastrous day, having serious problems with their tiller and crashing into the University of London crew.
The final race of the regatta, with all the finalists coming from the British Isles, certainly did the event proud. In a tremendously close contest Garda led at one stage, but Trinity pipped them for second place at the end. They were less than three seconds behind the winning Moseley crew - who had also won on Saturday - with Garda under three seconds further back.
The closeness of the contest should set up some interesting clashes later in the season. "We're looking forward to a crack at Trinity the next day," said Willie Ryan, manager of the Garda crew.
Chief among the other fine Irish performances was a win for Albert Maher in the heavyweight single sculls on both the Saturday and Sunday. The Cork-man, who rows for Dublin club Neptune, had, interestingly, 15 seconds to spare over Commercial's Niall O'Toole yesterday - O'Toole finished fourth.
The experienced Commercial lightweight pair of Emmet O'Brien and Donal McGuinness finished second in their A final.
Frank Durkin's work with Offaly Rowing Club is also clearly paying off. Padraig Hussey won the Senior B single sculls yesterday and teamed up with his brother Vincent to finish third in yesterday's A final for double sculls. Sisters Joanne and Emer Moran also won the junior women's double sculls.
The Offaly - and indeed Hussey - connection was also evident at the Limerick regatta on Saturday. Commercial's Mary Hussey, sister of Vincent and Padraig, beat her pre-eminent rival, club-mate and Offaly-woman Debbie Stack, in the senior women's single sculls final.
Commercial saw off a strong challenge from Neptune to win the women's eights final by only one foot and they also won the women's cox-less fours and the double sculls. The junior men's eight saw another good win for Skibbereen, who beat Neptune.
The Bann regattta at Coleraine on Saturday completed the weekend's activity, with the biggest entry coming from the North, particularly of junior and novice crews.
