Maher grabs chance

Rowing: Sean Jacob saw his chance of competing for Ireland wrenched from him by Albert Maher on Saturday - but yesterday Jacob said he had agreed to rejoin Maher and other Commercial scullers in an attempt to gain club glory at Henley Royal Regatta next month in a quadruple scull.

Jacob had been told he had to win the men's single scull final at Cork City regatta at the National Rowing Centre to hold onto a promised place at the Irish training camp in Stromstad in Sweden and a possible place at the World Cup regatta in Lucerne.

In the event, the race turned into what Maher deemed "a slugging match" between himself and Skibbereen 22-year-old Paul O'Sullivan, with Jacob only managing to take third.

Judging the effect of the tailwind well, Maher and O'Sullivan set a blistering rate, swapping the lead and leaving Jacob, rating a full five strokes lower at 32, behind them. At the end Maher had half a length to spare over O'Sullivan, with Jacob much further back. Maher has now been given the chance to set his sights on Lucerne, although yesterday he said he was unsure whether this will come to pass. His main aim is Henley success.

O'Sullivan has just graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, where he had a successful career with three wins in the intercollegiate championships. He will be asked by Ireland team manager Richard Parr to participate in this week's under-23 trials with an eye to taking part in the World Under-23 Championships at the end of next month.

Saturday's regatta was held in uninterrupted sunshine on a splendid course. In an exciting men's senior eight final, NUIG beat Lady Elizabeth by three-quarters of a length, reversing the placings of the Metropolitan regatta two weeks ago.

NUIG were boosted by the addition of John Forde, a Galway RC man, and Mark Stevens, who has been on scholarship in Temple College in the US.

Forde teamed up with Stevens to win the men's senior pair.

The women's senior pair, which offered the prospect of a real test for the possible Ireland under-23 crew of Luisa Ronayne and Aoife Forde, proved a damp squib - only American visitors Saugatuck lined out against the Irish and were well beaten.

Sean Jacob's wife, Siobhan, had given the family a lift earlier when she won the women's final, seeing off Offaly's Eimear Moran and Garda's Caroline Ryan through a good tactical display.

Moran later joined her sister, Joanne, to win the double sculls, and they may be real contenders at the National Championships at this venue in five weeks. Joanne has overcome both a dislocated disc and fractured ribs in a year which has had more than its share of misfortune.