Irish crews living up to seeding

ROWING/Henley: Day two at Henley Royal Regatta and the big boys come out to play. Commercial, with just one change from the crew that won the Men's Quadruple Scull last year, opened the defence of their title with a two-length victory over The Tideway Scullers.

Con Collis has slotted into the boat for James Mangan, joining Seán Jacob, Albert Maher and Ciarán Lewis in a crew which is allowed to row again in the same event because this is an Intermediate-class boat, above Club and Student level but below the elite Open class.

"It was good to get a start, get a race into their legs," said coach Mick Desmond of the performance. He agreed that he was reasonably happy. "We have a few little things to sort out," he added.

The crew face Notts County today and, if all goes well, are likely to encounter their first major hurdle in tomorrow's semi-finals in the shape of Australian crew Mosman RC.

Desmond is not one to count chickens, however. "This is Henley. You don't tempt the gods."

Last year, in what was a glorious regatta for the Irish, Commercial were joined on the winners' podium by another Irish crew. In the Visitors' Cup for coxless fours, also an intermediate event, an NUIG/Skibbereen composite were hugely impressive in their win. The victory cannot, however, be repeated as the crew is now split between two boats - which meet today.

Kenny McCarthy, who was the Skibbereen part of last year's composite, today lines up with clubmate Merlin Tanner and Galway Rowing Club's John Forde and Danny O'Dowd to take on an NUIG crew featuring Alan Martin, Paul Giblin and Marc Stephens from last year's winners along with Cormac Folan.

The draw in this class certainly did the Irish no favours. Yesterday McCarthy's men took on and beat a crew drawn from oarsmen hoping to form an Irish under-23 four, Ciarán Hayes and Richard Coakley from Skibbereen and NUIG's Rob Cronin and Dave Mannion.

In their race, the all-NUIG crew had an emphatic win over Dutch crew ARSR.

Skibbereen's interest continues in one of the elite events, the Diamond Sculls. Paul O'Sullivan, still only 23, justified his seeding by beating WPJ Hoodless of Oxford Brookes last evening.

O'Sullivan came to prominence as a single sculler only last year when he returned to Ireland from college in the United States, where he had rowed as a sweep oarsman, to compete in a national trial. He took a surprise second place behind Albert Maher and ahead of Seán Jacob.

He is seeded in the Henley draw, and would hope to emulate fellow Irishman Alan Campbell from Coleraine, who won this event last year. This is an unlikely scenario, however, owing to the considerable presence of one of the sport's superstars, Marcel Hacker of Germany.

Trinity's entry in the Men's Student Coxed Fours is also an ambitious young crew, hoping to make their names as the first winners of this inaugural event.

Yesterday, Robert Northridge, Paul Laird, Richie Moore, Kevin Devlin and cox Sophie Gold comprehensively beat American crew Grand Valley State University to advance to tomorrow's semi-finals where they will meet another seeded crew, Imperial College.

The eights of Lady Elizabeth and NUIG also justified their seeding, advancing to today's quarter-finals in the Thames Cup and Temple Cup respectively.

However, the odyssey of Limerick club St Michael's ended yesterday when their four were beaten in the second round of the Wyfolds. The mix of young Niall Kenny, a junior last year, Mike McDonagh, Rob Bowe, ex-Trinity, and Mark Grolimund, ex-NUIG, had proved themselves a gutsy outfit to get through the first day against Kingston Rowing Club.

HENLEY ROYAL REGATTA

DAY TWO RESULTS (selected)

Diamond Sculls: P O'Sullivan bt WPJ Hoodless 1½ l; RG Shirley bt HJ Jespersen 4½ l.

Men's Quadruple Sculls: Commercial RC bt The Tideway Scullers School B, 2 l.

Visitors' Cup (Intermediate Coxless Fours): Galway/Skibbereen bt NUIG/Skibbereen 2 l. NUIG bt ARSR, The Netherlands, 2½ l.

Thames Cup (Club Eights): Lady Elizabeth bt Molesey A 2/3 l.

Wyfold Cup (Club Coxless Fours): Nottinghamshire County A bt St Michael's 3 l.

Temple Cup (College Eights): NUIG bt Manchester University 1½ l.

Men's Student Coxed Four: Trinity bt Grand Valley State University, United States, 2¾ l.