A gold medal, six silvers and a bronze was an impressive haul for the Irish junior squad at the Coupe de la Jeunesse, the unofficial western European championship for juniors, at Candia in Italy at the weekend.

The men's quadruple scull, built around the remarkable juniors from Skibbereen, brought Ireland the gold on Saturday when they beat Italy into second and Britain into third. The British carried off all the men's fours titles on offer, however, although Ireland took two silvers in this grade yesterday.

The women's squad did surprisingly well. On Saturday they finished second in all three races in which they competed, the coxless four, pair and quad, and the women's pair won a bronze medal yesterday.

Irish national coach, Thor Nilsen, made a point yesterday of congratulating the juniors on their fine performance. Nilsen was in Copenhagen for an important task of his own: after observing the performances of the three Irish entries for the senior international regatta there he decided to recommend that the men's lightweight four should be sent to the World Championships in Cologne next month.

The crew finished a close second to world champions Denmark on both days (1.88 seconds behind on Saturday, 1.68 yesterday), which was described by Nilsen as "an excellent performance".

However, the lightweight women's quad is not ready for Cologne, Nilsen believes. "They have made a lot of progress, but they still have a long way to go," he said.

Nilsen also believes that heavyweight single sculler Albert Maher would be unlikely to reach the final at Cologne. His performances over the weekend, when he twice finished second to New Zealand's Robert Wadell, impressed Nilsen, and the Irish Amateur Rowing Union may yet send him to Cologne to gain experience.