Paul and Fintan reunite for first time since 2022

THE dream team of Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy will reunite for this weekend’s Rowing World Cup III in Lucerne.

The Skibbereen rowers have not competed together since winning gold at the 2022 World Rowing Championships in September, but will be back in the Irish men’s lightweight double for the final World Cup regatta of the year.

Together, they haven’t been beaten in this boat since 2019 and they’ll be eager to get time in the double ahead of this September’s World Rowing Championships which is the first opportunity to qualify for the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

With O’Donovan busy with college commitments, McCarthy partnered with Hugh Moore for the European Rowing Championships in May and they finished sixth in the A final, but the expectation will be that the medal-winning machine will announce their return in style this weekend (July 7th to 9th). 

They will face stiff competition from the Swiss combination of Raphael Ahumada Ireland and Jan Schaeuble who have been dominant in the absence of the familiar pairing of O’Donovan and McCarthy; the Swiss double has won European gold and the first two World Rowing Cups.

Skibbereen’s Aoife Casey will again team up with Margaret Cremen in the Irish women’s lightweight double, and they will be eager to improve on their fifth place in the A final at the Europeans. 

Olympic bronze medallist Emily Hegarty misses out again through a back injury and is in a race against time to be fit for the Worlds, given she hasn't returned to the water yet.

Irish crews for Lucerne:

LM1x: Hugh Moore (QUBBC).

LM2x: Paul O’Donovan (UCC RC), Fintan McCarthy (Skibbereen RC).

LW1x: Siobhán McCrohan (Tribesmen RC).

LW2x: Margaret Cremen (UCC RC), Aoife Casey (UCC RC).

M2-: Nathan Timoney (QUBBC), Ross Corrigan (Portora BC).

M2x: Philip Doyle (Portora BC), Daire Lynch (Clonmel RC).

W1x: Zoe Hyde (Killorglin RC).

W2-: Natalie Long (Lee Valley RC), Tara Hanlon (Cork BC).

W4-: Fiona Murtagh (University of Galway BC), Aifric Keogh (DULBC), Imogen Magner (Carlow RC), Eimear Lambe (OCBC).