Paul O'Donovan won two big races at the Irish Championships on Friday and Saturday, in both cases beating his team-mate from the Olympic lightweight double Fintan McCarthy, his brother Gary, and his beloved Skibbereen.
The Olympic champion in the lightweight double sculls rows with UCC and so must take on Skibbereen in club events.
In the quadruple sculls on Saturday, Paul teamed up with Ronan Byrne and his brother Alex and Hugh Sutton. Skibbereen, with Gary joined by both Fintan McCarthy and his twin Jake, were defending a small lead with 400 metres to go, but UCC pushed through them to win by less than a length.
Friday night's battle of the brothers was much closer. Gary O'Donovan and Fintan McCarthy led Paul O'Donovan and Ronan Byrne by a half-length at the 1000 and stayed ahead right to the line only to be pipped by .28 of a second. A win on the surge.
Gary O'Donovan had earlier won the lightweight single sculls title, beating Fintan McCarthy's twin brother, Jake.
Also on Friday, international success was a good indicator of success at the National Rowing Centre – Emily Hegarty of the women's four which took bronze in Tokyo was part of the winning UCC four, while Lydia Heaphy, who lost out to the eventual winner at Henley in the Princess Royal, took the women's lightweight singles title.
The wunderkind of Irish rowing just now is Holly Davis. She is just 16, but dominated the women's junior 18 single. She led in Rachel Bradley, who partnered her in the double which took bronze at the World Junior Championships.
Davis was defending the title she took in 2019 – when she was 14.
After making light of criticism of the internationals racing in the Championships, Paul O'Donovan explained his philosophy in taking on both Henley Royal Regatta and the Irish Championships after the Olympic Games.
He said that maintaining the fitness levels after the Games did not need much training.
"At the Olympics we should have been the fittest we ever were in our lives. And then with two brilliant regattas right after, why would you let it all go to waste?"
He likes to train every day, and it was "fun to go to Henley and row with his college mates at the Championships. It's brilliant, sure.
"We hadn't raced in nearly two years [due to] Covid. And now we have races, we might as well do them.
"People at the Olympics say 'this is what we like doing, rowing'. And then you'd ask them 'What are you doing after this?' and they're like 'Oh, we're taking a break and going on holidays'.
"That's very contradictory. You love racing and you're the fittest you've ever been – go and do a few more races.
"That's our attitude, anyway."
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