Limerick rower helps Ireland to silver medal success at European Championships

A TALENTED Limerick rower has helped Ireland score a stunning silver medal success at the European Rowing Junior Championships in Germany this Sunday.

Castleconnell Boat Club's James O'Donovan was a member of Ireland’s JM4+ crew which finished in second place in the A Final of the prestigious championships in Essen.

The race was won by the German team, and Turkey took third. The other teams that made up the final were, Italy, Russia and France.

The team qualified for the A Final after beating Germany, Ukraine, Russia, and the Czech Republic in their heat on Saturday morning. The Irish team won the race and placed 4 seconds ahead of Germany with a finish time of 06:31.68.

Rowing Ireland’s Lead Coach for Junior Men, Fran Keane said: “This is a great result from this crew who showed great maturity in their performances over the past two days of competition.  We will take a lot of positives from this result as we continue our preparation for the Junior World Championships in August.

"I would like to mention the work done by the clubs involved (Shandon, Cork, Castleconnell and St Josephs) in preparing these athletes in support of the High-Performance program.”

The World Junior Championships take place in Tokyo from August 7 to 11.

Ireland’s JM4+ Crew:

John Kearney (Cork),

Jack Dorney (Shandon),

James O’ Donovan (Castleconnell)

Matthew Gallagher (St Josephs)

Leah O’ Regan (Shandon) – Cox