Pair impress Jahrling

ROWING NEWS:IRELAND COACH Harald Jahrling, who put Irish heavyweight rowing back on the map in recent years and oversaw the qualification of a men's heavyweight four for the Olympic Games, believes he has found a combination in a men's pair that can seriously contend at international level.

The former British team member Jonno Devlin and the Kerryman Seán Casey won on both days at a regatta in Klagenfurt, Austria, at the weekend, and Jahrling says they will be in the Ireland team for the World Cup regatta in Munich in two weeks' time. The aim is to book a place for the boat in Beijing come the Olympic Qualifiers in Poland in June.

While the opposition at Klagenfurt was mostly Austrian, Jahrling was pleased it was a useful exercise for his charges.

"We learned we have a winning pair," the German said. "We always wanted to find out by this time if we should send a pair to the World Cup with the idea of maybe qualifying (for the Olympics) or not. That is something we have found out now."

Cormac Folan and Seán O'Neill were second behind Devlin and Casey on both days, and will join Alan Martin and James Wall in the four for Munich. Although Wall was injured over the weekend and could not row, Jahrling subbed in Devlin and Casey and tried different combinations in the four. They had two wins on Sunday.

"I think (the four) is going quite well," Jahrling said, adding that Wall should be fit for Munich.

Back in Ireland, Trinity's senior eight had a week of ups and downs in the run-up to their own regatta on Saturday - and the day itself also held glory and disappointment for them. They had a fine victory in an exhibition race against an Oxford selection but fell to Commercial in the semi-final of a senior eights competition won by rivals UCD.

The exhibition race was a highlight of what was otherwise a patchy, stop-start day, with many crews scratching.

"From the very first stroke it was brilliant," said strokeman Eoghan Kerlin of the performance against Oxford.

The turbulence of midweek, when coach Mark Pattison's position seemed in doubt, is behind the club, says assistant coach Nick Mahony, who oversaw the crew on the day because Pattison was attending a family occasion.

The crew was markedly different from that on the programme: Tim Harnedy was not in the line-up, and club captain Joe Calnan was in the bow rather than the stroke seat. Oxford called up Paul Giblin of NUIG to fill a vacancy in their bow seat.

UCD bridged a gap of 35 years with their victory by a canvas over Commercial in the final. Commercial had beaten Trinity in a semi-final rescheduled after equipment failure and rowed less than an hour after Trinity's win against Oxford. UCD had a disappointing day otherwise, not least when their senior women's eight was disqualified for encroaching three times in their final against the hosts.