Daire Lynch and Philip Doyle raced to bronze at the World Rowing Championships in Belgrade today.
The Netherlands were the dominant men’s double, but Ireland raced well to put serious pressure on Croatia’s Valent and Martin Sinkovic, who held out to take the silver.
Lynch, who only returned to the Ireland system from the United States earlier this year, said the crew was “delighted”.
He said they had come into the regatta only a few weeks after heavy training and were not pleased with their heat here. “We felt better and better through the regatta.” The performance of the pair, who took a bronze medal, confirmed that they had not timed it wrong.
“The fact that they won the medal yesterday, we knew we could perform. We knew we could have a good go off the Dutch, because in the semi-final we didn’t unleash a sprint but we were pretty close to them But (after final) I guess their experience maybe (gives them an edge).”
Zoe Hyde and Alison Bergin were just one place off a medal in their doubles final. They were happy enough, as they are a new crew and had already achieved the big aim of qualifying the boat for Paris 2024. 

 Picture: Daire Lynch and his girlfriend Martina Roman, who flew in from the US for the event. Either side is Niall Lynch, Daire’s father, and Daire’s brother Brian.