Tipperary's Daire Lynch wins bronze at World Rowing Championships finals

Fantastic news from the World Rowing Championships in Belgrade in the past hour where Clonmel Rowing Club's Daire Lynch teamed up with Philip Doyle to win a bronze medal in the Double Sculls final.

The Irish pair finished in third position behind The Netherlands who won the gold and Croatia who took silver.

In Lane 2 in the six-boat final, which also included pairs from China, Italy and Spain, the Irish duo were patient throughout the early stages and were in sixth position at the half-way point. Between the 1,000m mark and the 1,500m mark they moved into fourth and in the final quarter of the race upped their stroke rate and managed to overtake the Italians for the bronze medal.

The pair came within inches of passing the legendary Croatian Sinkovic brothers, two-time Olympic gold medallists in Rio de Janeiro and Toyko, something that the siblings applauded at the finishing line. But there was no denying the Dutch duo their success today.

Having progressed to the final on Friday after two earlier races this week, Daire Lynch and Philip Doyle, qualified their boat for the Olympics in Paris next July. Hopefully more success lies ahead for the Clonmel rower who graduated from Yale University last year.

Congratulations to Daire on his magnificent achievement today, just reward for years of dedicated commitment to the sport and a boost to all down Sergeant's Lane at CRC (The Island) in Clonmel where it all began for Daire.