Rowing/ World Championships: On a day of bright sunshine and fierce competition, Ireland's lightweight four qualified for what should be a fascinating A final tomorrow (2.15pm, BBC and Eurosport) at the World Rowing Championships at Eton.
Niamh Ní Cheilleachair and Sinéad Jennings also turned in a battling performance in their semi-final of the lightweight double sculls but missed out on their A final by finishing fifth.
Neither Irish crew got a good start, but the lightweight four, who were fourth at halfway, found enough in the final 700 metres to finish third.
Defending champions France had led through the first half of the race, with Britain, the United States and Ireland close together a length and less behind. An Irish push in the third quarter drove them past the US and into a qualification spot.
Indeed as the crews passed the cheering crowds the Irish looked like they might dispute the lead, but France held on from a surprisingly competitive Britain.
"Our last 250 was very encouraging, because in (the World Cup regattas in) Lucerne and Poznan our last 250 wasn't so great," said Ireland stroke man Paul Griffin. "It's something we've worked on and we performed a good last 250 here under serious pressure for a place in the final. That's something we're happy with.
"Conversely the first 250 isn't something we're happy with, but we know exactly what we need to do."
Griffin said the crew were "very positive" about tomorrow's final, where they are in lane one, alongside Britain. Australia produced a replica of the Irish performance in the second semi-final, slotting in behind winners China and second-placed Canada, and are in lane six.
It would be a brave prophet who would call the medallists. Ireland and Australia will be in the hunt - if they can get better starts. France and China have the middle lanes, but they will know they have to produce their best to even be sure of a medal. Britain should only figure if they can reproduce yesterday's peak in form, while Canada's improving crew may be the dark horses. Only the race itself will tell.
RTÉ television may slot a recording of the race into The Sunday Game if Ireland win a medal.
Jennings and Ní Cheilleachair will go in tomorrow's B final of the lightweight double (10.17am) after a race of swinging fortunes in which they raised the Irish roars with a gutsy battle over the final third.
But their disappointing start had left them over four seconds behind long-time leaders Finland at half-way, and three and a half at 1,500 metres. They had left themselves too much to do.
The Finns came under pressure from Britain in the closing stages, and Ireland made ground on the USA and Australia. But as the crowd cheered the stirring contest, the Australians pushed on to head both Finland and Britain at the finish, with the United States pushed into the B final in fourth, and Jennings and Ní Cheilleachair one place further back.
Reigning champions Germany had given up their chance of retaining their crown when they finished fifth in the first semi-final, won by favourites China.
On a day of tight finishes yesterday, some lost out by excruciatingly small margins: Canada's men's eight were denied by three hundredths of a second; the British lightweight pair of James Lindsay-Fynn and Mark Hunter by .22 of a second.
Lindsay-Fynn took a bronze medal with Ireland in the World Championships in 1999.
It was another good day for Coleraine: Richard Archibald in Ireland's lightweight four was joining two others from the town who had made A finals. Richard Chambers (22) was in Britain's lightweight pair which qualified by finishing second in their semi-final yesterday, and Alan Campbell goes in today's single sculls decider (12.40pm).
Eton results How the Irish fared
Skibbereen's Tim Harnedy and Richard Coakley finished third yesterday in their D final, placing them 21st in the lightweight double sculls.
Ireland have one crew in action today. The men's four go in the B final at 10.24pm.World Rowing Championships, day six (Irish interest), men's lightweight four semi-finals (three to A final) - Semi-final one: 1 France (F Solforosi, J Pouge, J-C Bette, F Tilliet) 6:10.32; 2 Britain (M Beechey, D Harte, P Mattick, J Clarke) 6:10.74; 3 Ireland (G Towey, E Coakley, R Archibald, P Griffin) 6:11.35; 4 Germany 6:12.33; 5 USA 6:16.45; 6 Poland 6:20.18.
Semi-final two: 1 China (Z Huang, C Wu, L Zhang, J Tian) 6:10.80; 2 Canada (J Sasi, M Lewis, D Parsons, I Brambell) 6:11.13; 3 Australia (T Skipworth, B Cureton, M McBryde, T O'Callaghan) 6:13.50; 4 South Africa 6:16.73; 5 The Netherlands 6:16.89, 6 Italy 6:17.16.
Lightweight double scull - Semi-final A/B/C (first two to A final; second two to B final): 1 Denmark (M Rasmussen, R Hansen) 6:30.46; 2 Poland (T Kucharski, R Sycz) 6:34.64; 3 Britain (J Lindsay-Fynn, M Hunter) 6:34.86; 4 Austria 6:39.94. D final (Places 19 to 24): 1 China 6:53.25; 2 Turkey 6:53.30; 3 Ireland (R Coakley, T Harnedy) 6:53.86; 4 Portugal 6:54.33; 5, Hong Kong 7:01.03; 6 Algeria 7:12.76.
Lightweight pair Semi-final (qualifiers): 1 Australia 6:47.73; 2 Britain (C Bartley, R Chambers) 6:49.04; 3 Russia 6:50.92.
Women lightweight double sculls semi-finals (first three to A final; rest to B final) - Semi-final one: 1 China (Dongxiang Xu, Shimin Yan) 7:11.61; 2 Canada (M Jones, T Cameron) 7:14.15; 3 Greece (C Biskitzi, A Tsiavou) 7:15.70; 4 Poland (M Kemnitz, I Mokronowska) 7:16.39; 5 Germany (D Reimer, M-L Draeger) 7:17.50; 6 Spain (L Guillen Cruz, S Boubeta) 7:21.79.
Semi-final two: 1 Australia (M Houston, A Halliday) 7:14.03; 2 Finland (S Sten, M Nieminen) 7:15.58; 3 Britain (J Hall, H Casey) 7:15.65; 4 USA (R Hykel, J Nichols) 7:17.64; 5 Ireland (S Jennings, N Ní Cheilleachair) 7:18.23; 6 Sweden (L Karlsson, S Karlsson) 7:27.75.
Today's programme (Irish interest) 10.24 - Men's four, B final (places seven to 12): Cormac Folan, Seán O'Neill, Seán Casey, Alan Martin. Tomorrow 10.17 - Women's lightweight double scull, B final (places seven to 12): Sinéad Jennings, Niamh Ní Cheilleachair. 2.15 - Men's lightweight four, A final: Gearóid Towey, Eugene Coakley, Richard Archibald, Paul Griffin.
