European silver for Emily Hegarty and Irish women's four

SKIBBEREEN rower Emily Hegarty has won a silver medal at the European Rowing Championships in Italy.

The Aughadown woman is part of the Irish women’s four that finished second to The Netherlands in the A final of the women’s four in Varese.

Hegarty, Aifric Keogh, Eimear Lambe and Fiona Murtagh were really impressive here – they were third after 500 metres and at the halfway stage, behind The Netherlands and Great Britain. By the the three-quarter mark Ireland had moved into second place behind The Netherlands and they really piled on the pressure in the closing stages to finish less than half a second behind the winners.

Superb performance by the Irish women's four to win silver at the European Rowing Championships. They were closing in on The Netherlands at the end. pic.twitter.com/ZkGV9VpN6g

— Kieran McCarthy (@KieranMcC_SS) April 11, 2021

Ireland finished in 6:27.96, with the Netherlands winning in 6:27.51, and Great Britain third in 6:31.27.

Afterwards Aifric Keogh said: ‘The medal this year means a lot to us because were so close to Olympic qualification. A lot of crews from Ireland are already qualified, and for us to be able to finish that close to the Dutch is a really huge confidence boost.’