ROWING:IRELAND WILL have its strongest representation in years at Henley Royal Regatta, which starts two weeks from tomorrow.
Queen’s University have two crews in the Temple Cup for student eights, with real hopes of winning this high-quality event, while NUIG mount a challenge for the coveted Ladies’ Plate, which is a step above club level.
A big talking point will be the fate of a newly-minted Irish crew aimed at the Visitors’ Cup for coxless fours. There were doubts last night over whether it had made it through the entry procedures.
The Muckross/Galway Rowing Club crew is laden with class: double Olympian Paul Griffin is matched up with James Mangan, John Forde and Marc Stephens.
Muckross also have a crew in the Wyfold for club fours, as have Commercial and Galway, and there are three Thames Cup (club eights) entries and one in the Britannia for club coxed fours.
UCD have also entered the Prince Albert for student coxed fours.
At the top level, the Open class, a composite of Belfast, City of Derry and Carrick-on-Shannon goes in the Princess Grace for women’s quadruples, and Brendan Smyth and Martin Murphy of Lady Elizabeth go in the men’s pairs.
PROVISIONAL ENTRY LIST FOR HENLEY ROYAL REGATTA (Irish interest; some crews may have to qualify): Men Silver Goblets (Pair, Open): Lady Elizabeth (B Smyth, M Murphy) Ladies’ Plate (Eights, Intermediate): NUIG (E Mullarkey, Jason Wall, L Molloy, P Bracken, E Donnelly, A Martin, D Mannion, James Wall; cox: R Cooke). Visitors’ Cup (Fours, Intermediate): Galway RC/Muckross (M Stephens, J Forde, J Mangan, P Griffin). Thames Cup (Eights, Club): St Michael’s (K O’Shea, V Manning, D O’Connor, J McDonald, D Power, M O’Brien, K O’Connor, H Lynch; cox: M Griffin); Carlow/Galway RC (D Hehir, P O’Brien, A Kemple, N Hogan, P McCarthy, FJ Barry, TJ Curley, R Curley; cox: N Hehir) Wyfold (Four, Club): Commercial (D Murphy, F Folan, C Dowling, R Peguet); Galway RC (D Hehir, FJ Barry, TJ Curley, R Curley); Muckross (S O’Halloran, S Prendiville, P Kennedy, S Mac Eoin). Britannia (Four, coxed, Club): Cork (S Carroll, D Sheehan, D Walsh, J Collins; cox: S Shapter) Temple (Eights, Student): Queen’s A (D Hannon, G Meek, E Mac Domhnaill, A Mohammad, C Coyle, J Graham, M Butler, J Mitchell; cox: H Rhys-Davies); Queen’s B (M Jamison, P Beirne, D Gollogly, N Oliver, W Howell, T McKnight, P Gillanders, C Cunningham; cox: A Tubman); Trinity (P Jacques, L Cameron, M Harris, P Ryan, J Semple, L Acheson, R Mawn, P Dunphy; cox: MF Crockett). Prince Albert (Fours, coxed, Student): UCD (D Neill, CP Pierce, F Manning, T Doyle; cox: JL Lynch) Women – Princess Grace (Quadruple Scull, Open): Belfast RC/City of Derry/Carrick-on-Shannon (Rachel Beringer, AE Duncan, L D’Urso, D Kelly).
