Ireland Oarsmen the Afloat Rowers of the Month

31st July 2016

#Rowing: The Rowers of the Month for July are Mark O’Donovan and Shane O’Driscoll of Skibbereen. The Irish Championships offered a list of great performances: the Commerical senior eight won a thrilling final; the Cork Boat Club junior pair of Amy Mason and Tara Hanlon impressed and would go on the take silver at the Coupe de la Jeunesse; the rising star that is Daire Lynch took three titles. However, O’Donovan and O’Driscoll had the outstanding run, taking five titles: together they won the senior pair and senior double, while O’Donovan won the senior single sculls and O’Driscoll the lightweight single. They also teamed up with Fintan McCarthy and Kenny McCarthy to win the senior quadruple. The combined efforts of all the Skibbereen crews brought them 13 titles, lifting the west Cork club to 163 in total, clear at the top of the rankings as the most successful Irish club.

Mark O’Donovan and Shane O’Driscoll will represent Ireland in the lightweight pair at the World Championships in Rotterdam in late August.

Rower of the Month awards: The judging panel is made up of Liam Gorman, rowing correspondent of The Irish Times, and David O'Brien, editor of Afloat magazine. Monthly awards for achievements during the year will appear on afloat.ie and the overall national award will be presented to the person or crew who, in the judges' opinion, achieved the most notable results in, or made the most significant contribution to rowing during 2016. Keep a monthly eye on progress and watch our 2016 champions list grow.

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About The Author

Liam Gorman

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Liam Gorman is a writer and reporter. He is the co-author of Little Lady, One Man, Big Ocean, published in the United States and Canada as Crossing the Swell. He is the rowing correspondent of the Irish Times.

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