Moynihan to replace Coakley

ROWING:Cathal Moynihan will replace Richard Coakley in the Ireland lightweight four for the first World Cup of the season, at Linz in Austria next weekend.

The original selection did poorly at last weekend's Huegelregatta in Essen, and while Coakley is named in the crew on the official entry for Linz, Ireland coach Harald Jahrling said yesterday Moynihan will be in the bow seat come the heats next Friday.

Eugene Coakley, in the two seat, and Richard Archibald and strokeman Paul Griffin will fill the other positions.

Speaking from the squad's camp in Munich, Jahrling said the new formation was training well. It would be next week before their true form is measured, "but they're going okay".

Kerryman Moynihan (26) was originally named in the lightweight single and as reserve for the lightweight four. His selection was one of the grounds of an official objection from Diarmaid MacColgáin, who finished ahead of him in the final of the second selection regatta. Jahrling said it was his "professional opinion" that on the basis of his overall performance, Moynihan was the better choice.

The World Cup in Linz will be a huge event. With the bulk of the qualification places for boats for the Olympic Games available at the World Championships in Munich in just three months' time, squads are launching their campaigns early this season.

There are entries from 46 countries, with Germany (37 boats) and China (27) leading the way.

Ireland have eight crews entered. New outfits, such as the women's double of Caroline Ryan and Helen Walshe and a men's quadruple built around the under-23 crew from last year, must prove they can stay in touch in Austria and in the next World Cup in Amsterdam in four weeks' time if they are to go on to Munich.

The men's heavyweight four will have bigger ambitions. Seán O'Neill, Cormac Folan, Seán Casey and Alan Martin won on both days in Essen, claiming the scalp of Slovenia, who will again face them in Linz. An A-final place must be a real possibility for the Ireland four.

Like the four, Ireland's lightweight women's double placed seventh in the world last year, and Niamh Ní Cheilleachair and Sinéad Jennings will also be chasing an A-final place.

Coleraine will again find themselves supplying rowers to both Britain and Ireland. While Richard Archibald competes for Ireland, Richard Chambers (21) has been named in the opposing British lightweight four.

Another member of the British crew is James Lindsay-Fynn, a London-based, Dublin-born athlete.

The Belfast Sprints are being held tomorrow and they go head to head with the big domestic event of the weekend - the Cork regatta at the National Rowing Centre. Fermoy host their regatta on Sunday.