Margaret Cremen clinches brilliant silver at Euro Championships

Margaret Cremen clinched a brilliant lightweight single sculls silver medal at the European Rowing Championships in Hungary on Sunday morning.

The Skibbereen competitor had placed second in her preliminary race and came into the 'A' final in good shape.

Cremen hit the front as they passed the 500m mark, but was reeled in by 1000m, slipping back to second behind pre-race favourite Alena Furman.

However Cremen managed to maintain a healthy lead over the French and Czech boths, which battled for bronze as the Irish woman peeled away to consolidate the silver position.

Furman came home in 8.32.17, over 10 seconds ahead of Cremen who was a further 17 seconds clear of the Czech Kristyna Neuhortova.

Last September Cremen and Aoife Casey qualified an Irish lightweight women's double boat for this summer's Paris Games when they won their B final at the World Championships.

Earlier, Jake McCarthy finished sixth in his lightweight single sculls 'A' final.

McCarthy - twin brother of Olympic gold medallist Fintan - won his heat on Thursday but couldn't muster a medal challenge on the waters of Szeged.

He made a slow start from lane two, passing the 500m mark fifth of the six competitors. The Skibbereen man dropped to sixth after 1000m as Italian Niels Torre opened up a huge gap from the rest.

Torre cruised to victory in 7.41.72 ahead of Belgium's Marlon Colpaert and Baptiste Savaete. McCarthy came home 30.84 seconds after the winner.

Paul O'Donovan was second in the B final of the men's heavyweight single sculls. He came fifth place finish in the A/B semi-finals on Saturday. It's the first time O'Donovan has competed in the heavyweight category.