Titans of Olympic Games rowing are great ambassadors for Ireland

Above: Celebrating a historic success at the Vaires-Sur-Marne Olympic rowing course in Paris. From left, Tom Fennessey, Conor Lynch, Brian Lynch, Joanna Lynch, bronze medal winner Daire Lynch, Dermot Dougan, Niall Lynch and Aoife Lynch  

It’s a little bit surreal to be writing a report about a Clonmel rower winning a bronze medal at the Olympics.

Perhaps I had drifted off into a trance when I went for a long row up to Sandybanks and was only brought back to reality by a splash of water into the face from Andy Ryan’s oar.

But no, I wasn’t daydreaming. It really did happen on August 1 2024 at the Vaires-Sur-Marne Olympic rowing course.
Daire Lynch from Clonmel Rowing Club, rowing with Philip Doyle from Banbridge, County Down created a little bit of history when they won the bronze medal in the men’s heavyweight 2x final.

In a wonderful initiative, Clonmel Borough District organised a big screen in the Kickham Barracks Plaza for the semi-final and final so that the people of Clonmel could all come down to watch the race together.

Blessed with a beautiful sunny day, the plaza was well attended for the semi-final, but for the final it was jam- packed. The architects of the plaza will have been delighted to see their vision of a bustling town square brought to life.

The occasion had scenes reminiscent of Italia 90. Michael Murphy, the Mayor of Clonmel rallied the troops and whipped the crowd into a frenzy of excitement before the race started at 10.30am.

The six boats aligned themselves on the starting pontoon, waiting for the lights to go green just like they do it in Formula 1.

And off they went, with Spain and Romania taking an early lead. Daire Lynch and Philip Doyle were ensconced in midfield alongside the Dutch, the current World champions and silver medallists from Tokyo.

2,000 metres is a long race when you row at the intensity that these crews were going and we were satisfied with where the Irish boat was positioned.

At the 1,000 metres mark the USA, the Netherlands and Ireland were starting to make inroads into the Spanish, but the Romanians remained steadfastly in front.

At 1,500 metres the Dutch momentarily moved alongside the Romanians, who responded with a push to get their noses back in front again.

Daire and Philip were engaged in a battle with USA for the bronze medal position. At the Olympics nobody wants to finish fourth. Just ask Eamonn Coghlan.

With the needle on the rev counter gone way into the red zone, Daire and Philip somehow managed to break free from the Americans. Crossing the line it was Romania first, Netherlands second and Ireland third.

It was a historic bronze medal for our boys in the boat Daire Lynch and Philip Doyle. It was the first Olympic medal to come back to Tipperary for 92 years to the day since Bob Tisdall won the 400 metres hurdles in Los Angeles in 1932.

The large crowd gathered at the plaza were elated with the result. When the Irish tricolour was raised up the flagpole, tears streamed down the eyes of Clonmel supporters as they came to terms with the magnitude of the occasion.

Many of the Clonmel supporters in Paris stayed around for Friday’s racing, another red letter day for Irish rowing when three Irish boats contested three finals.

The rowing at the Olympics provided us with the full gamut of emotions - joy, heartbreak, close finishes, parental pride and for Daire Lynch a fairytale ending to a journey that began at Clonmel Rowing Club in 2014.

Daire and Philip were gracious in their acceptance of all the plaudits and wished to acknowledge the helping hand they got along the way from their coaches, including Clonmel’s Jimmy Fennessy and Pat Kinsella.

Great ambassadors for their towns and country, you couldn’t but be proud of these titans of Olympic rowing.