The O’Donovan brothers reveal how they used to “bate the head off each other”

To look at them now, who'd think the O'Donovan brothers had any bit of violence in them?

The affable Cork heroes have captured the hearts of all who have watched their post-race interview exploits in the last week but the pally pair were no strangers to roughhousing as youngsters. https://twitter.com/SportsJOEdotie/status/764106182285983744 After claiming silver in the men’s lightweight double sculls final on Friday afternoon at Rio 2016, the Skibbereen duo continued their crusade to win over the whole of Ireland with another cracker of an interview before, later that evening, Paul O'Donovan revealed just how much time they spend with one another. "We are almost like the same person now at this stage," he told the Irish Times. "We spent so long together the past year and people think in interviews we are great craic because we are just excited that we have other people to talk to apart from ourselves.

“Because we are sitting at home there and we can only rest up in bed most of the time. And we can’t even talk to each other because it’s like talking to yourself, because we can only talk about things that we have done. Gary can’t say to me: ‘Oh, I did this earlier’ because I’ve seen him do it and I was there. It can get boring as well. But ’tis good craic as well schtanding up there on the podium with him. He’s a nice guy as well sometimes.”

Gary appreciated the kind words from his older brother but was keen to remind everyone that it had not always been smooth rowing between them. "We get on really well like," Gary said. "Great words from Paul like. "Ah. We used to bate the head off each other when we were smaller, like. Two young brothers growing up. . .that’s the way things go. But as we matured and started to get a bit more successful in rowing, we realised that if we bate the head off each other . . . I need him to be in good form and healthy and . . . un-injured . . . so we realised we can’t be doing that anymore.” For the love of God, get these guys a reality show NOW! Exclusive interview with Paraic Duffy on the latest GAA Hour. Subscribe here on iTunes.