There is ‘something about Skibbereen’, says coach as club rowers retain gold

There is “something about Skibbereen”, one of the rowing club’s coaches declared as Team Ireland’s Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy won gold.

The pair defended their Olympic title in the men’s lightweight double sculls with an impressive performance at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium.

The victory also made O’Donovan the first Irish athlete to win a medal in three successive Olympics.

McCarthy and O’Donovan crossed the finish line in six minutes and 10.99 seconds, more than two seconds clear of silver medallists Italy, with Greece taking bronze.

O’Donovan won Ireland’s first ever Olympic rowing medal with his brother Gary in Rio 2016, and went on to win gold with McCarthy at the delayed Tokyo Games in 2021.

Hundreds of supporters packed Skibbereen Town Hall on Friday to watch them row to success.

Sharon Murphy, a coach at Skibbereen Rowing Club, said the pair, who are members of the Co Cork club, were “brilliant”.

She told the PA news agency: “I won’t say I’m speechless because I’m never speechless, but it was so exciting, not unexpected, but the fingers have to be crossed anyway.

“The girls (Aifric Keogh and Fiona Murtagh) were brilliant. They rode their hearts out today. The boys were determined.

“(O’Donovan) was playing the underdog, but I think they knew in their own hearts where they were going. So it was executed to plan and expertly done.

“I would imagine they had a plan, and they knew what they wanted to do and they knew what they had to do, so they went out and did it. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, and today it did.”

Ms Murphy said the atmosphere in the town hall was “unbelievable”.

She added: “There was a lot of music in the build-up, there were interviews and people cheering.

“The atmosphere