Important test for Irish crews

ROWING COLUMNWHAT A week in rowing - and what a week to come. After a chastening trip to the High Court, the sport now faces into the most important test since the Athens Olympics.

The Olympic Qualifier in Poznan in Poland, which runs from Sunday to Wednesday, could see the Ireland lightweight four dubbed the new best hopes of a medal for this country in Beijing. Or those days may effectively mark the end of a generation of hugely talented lightweight oarsmen.

Coach John Holland knows the stakes and has played his full hand. He has replaced Eugene Coakley in the bow seat with Cathal Moynihan, the Kerryman who rowed in this crew last season.

Holland said yesterday it was a difficult decision, but he has a faster crew, and he hopes it will be a better racing unit.

Coakley, who will be 30 in March, has a sporting CV which puts him among the elite in sport in this country: Olympic finalist 2004; silver and bronze medals at World Championship level in 2005 and 2006; World Cup gold medal in 2006.

He has two reasons to hope this week's decision will not be a permanent demotion. He moves into the lightweight double with his brother Richard, and should they grab one of the two places on offer in the qualifier, he is set for Beijing.

This, however, is an extremely long shot - one of the crews targeting one of the two qualifying places are reigning Olympic champions, Poland.

But Holland has also sought and received clarification from Fisa, the governing body of the sport, that he can change any qualified crew until mid-July - as long as the athlete coming in has not qualified in a different boat.

So either of the Coakley brothers could still row in a lightweight four bound for Beijing.

But will the lightweight four do the business? The crew of Moynihan, Gearoid Towey, Richard Archibald and Paul Griffin has the talent to do it.

One boat from each of the two heats on Monday shoots directly into Wednesday's final, and Germany and Ireland would hope to use this stage to send out a message to their rivals that they are in pole position for the two places in Beijing. Those contenders are likely to be headed by Serbia, South Africa, Russia and Spain.

The men's pair of Jonno Devlin and Sean Casey, who see action on Sunday, are rank outsiders, despite an impressive rise. Canada's Dave Calder and Scott Frandsen, who won gold in the recent World Cup in Lucerne, would seem like shoo-ins for the first qualification place, leaving the new crew of Casey and Devlin to shoot it out with world powers in rowing, such as China, Italy and Russia, for the other place.

The official entry also includes entries for Sean Jacob and Sinead Jennings in the single sculls categories. Neither will be competing.

Jacob failed to gain an injunction which would have effectively reversed his deselection from the team. Those in power in Irish sport were relieved.

How could sport be run, the argument goes, if athletes refused to accept the decisions of coaches? And yet, and yet. Sean Jacob is 35 years of age. For years of his life he has dedicated himself to the goal of getting to Beijing.

He was sick in the run-up to the Munich World Cup, and his coach, Harald Jahrling, told this newspaper that he could not be judged on his performance there. After doing poorly, he was cut.

The judgment of the High Court is that the coach had a right to do this. But that does not make it right. Where were the written criteria?

How was the decision conveyed to a man who believed he was still bound for one big shot at glory? Would Sean Jacob have gone to Poznan and grabbed a place at Beijing? Most likely not.

But the glory of sport springs from chance and the dedication of those who dream and follow a dream. Clare to win the All-Ireland hurling final in 1995? Buster Douglas to be world heavyweight champion? Couldn't happen. But they believed and they got there. Because they had the chance.

Out of the courts, and on the water, Athlone's regatta tomorrow has a huge entry, with over 12 hours of racing planned.