LAST UPDATE | 1 Aug

IRELAND HAS WON its first rowing medal in Paris 2024, with Daire Lynch and Philip Doyle winning a wonderful bronze medal in this morning’s men’s Double Sculls final. 

The two men came in behind the Romanian boat, which took the gold, and the Netherlands, which took the silver. 

The result gives Ireland its fourth medal of the games so far. 

The Irish pair never really threatened the lead, with the Romanian rowers setting the pace throughout.

Ireland was battling with the USA for third and fourth place over the 2km distance but pulled away from their American opponents as they entered the final 500m. 

Down’s Doyle and Tipperary’s Lynch dug deep in an effort to move into the silver medal position towards the conclusion and it looked like they might do it but the Dutch pair summonded the energy to keep their Irish rivals at bay. 

Speaking to RTÉ Sport after the race, Doyle said they thought they might pip the Dutch pair but that the Romanian boat was on another level. 

“Everyone might think we were coming for the Dutch, we could smell them and sniff them, the lads are on the left (Romania) were on some other planet over there. We went earlier, we pushed through the middle to get through, we knew people would have something else.”

Doyle added that it was perhaps a tactical error to push hard in the middle of the race but that it’s something they can learn from. 

“I think the mistake I made was a combination of all the extra work we had in the middle, I could feel his legs going, we went early with our sprint, thankfully we had an enough to make the mistake and keep going but sure look we’ll look back and see where we can improve for whatever’s coming next.” 

The Vaires-sur-Marne rowing venue just outside Paris will now be written into Irish Olympic history but Ireland’s rowers will be hoping for even more success over the coming days. 

Tomorrow morning, Ross Corrigan and Nathan Timoney compete in the final of the Men’s Pair and defending Olympic champions Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy are set to defend their title in the Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls.