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Ireland took two bronze medals at the World Rowing Under-23 Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria on Saturday.
The Ireland lightweight pair of David O'Malley and Shane Mulvaney finished fourth last year, but this time around the two 21-year-olds from UCD grabbled hold of the medal they deserved.
Turkey led early on, but Italy and Ireland came through fast. With 500 metres to go, Italy had taken the lead with Ireland and Turkey just behind. In the final quarter, Italy secured first with Turkey edging out Ireland to take the silver.
The lightweight quadruple were also very close to taking the silver.
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The crew of Niall Beggan, Stephen O'Connor, Andrew Goff and Shane O'Connell came third behind Switzerland and Austria.
The middle of the race was characterised by a battle between Switzerland and Austria for the top two positions, with Ireland and Britain locking horns for the next spot. But Ireland were relentless. Britian fell back in the closing stages and Ireland came within .28 of a second of catching Austria, who took silver.
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