Enniskillen duo Ross Corrigan and Nathan Timoney secure spot in Olympic Games rowing final while Aughnacloy's Rebecca Edwards set for B showdown

Having grown up at the same rowing club and attended the same school in County Fermanagh, Corrigan and Timoney have been paired together since junior days and are now showcasing their skills on the biggest stage.

The Team Ireland duo started strongly and despite being clawed back by Romania and Great Britain, Corrigan and Timoney were able to hold off the challenge of New Zealand to secure third spot in a time of 6:32:22.

In what is their debut Olympic Games appearance, they’ll now progress into Friday’s final in Paris after also narrowly progressing through Sunday’s heat in a photo finish, with Corrigan saying afterwards: “Definitely there was a wee bit of a moment where we were waiting to see had we done it. I was fairly confident we had beat the Swiss anyway and then you just never know what the surge is going to be like when it’s so close.”

It wasn’t to be for Aughnacloy's Rebecca Edwards, who missed out on a spot in the women’s pairs A final after finishing fifth in the semi-final alongside partner Chloe Brew.

The 30-year-old, competing in her second Olympic Games after also representing Team GB in Tokyo, crossed the line in a time of 7:28:76 as the top-three of the Netherlands, Romania and Greece progressed into the medal race.

Edwards and Brew will take their spot in the B final, which decides who finishes seventh to 12th in the pinnacle of rowing, and will be yet another big race for a friendship that started back in 2015.

Ahead of the Games, Edwards told the News Letter on her partnership with Brew: "The pair is a very intense boat but really quite special and you have to have that good partnership. It's quite a cool thing to be doing this with a good friend, I feel very privileged and am enjoying it.

"Most people with a best friend you do all the fun things then support each other through thick and thin but not really going through it together.

"With us, if we're having a bad day we're both having a bad day and it's about what can I do to help you or what do I need you to do to help me Then it's about being able to say to the other person that wasn't very helpful then okay how can we look at it in another way.

"You're not just working on your rowing, you're working on your communication as well. It's not always easy but when you get the balance of it right you can bring out the best in each other really well. We're very good at those tough conversations when needed and not allowing that to carry over into the friendship but it all comes down to trust.

"I know if we are having a hard time or someone says something we both always come back to the fact that it's all in the best interest of us going as fast as we can. As long as you have that as the bottom line then you know it's always coming from a good place whether it's hard to hear or the best thing in the world.

"The pair is so different...I love the women's eight but, to be honest, I love the women's four too, I love all the boats for different reasons. But in the pair you can be very exposed but I feel excited for us to show what we can do. You're very accountable to yourself and the other person but when you get it right it brings such great rewards."