Get in there quick lads as there’s money to be made.
‘Try our besht’
‘Schteak and spuds’
‘Tis great to beat the Brits’
‘Close the eyes and pull like a dog’
Gary and Paul O’Donovan have given us silver medal glory and the guts of a phrasebook that will sell a heap north, south, east and west of the N71.
The rowing stars were in top form at the press conference held for themselves, the French pair that claimed gold and third-placed Norway. Anyone would have thought the Skibbereen natives had won gold themselves, such was the attention they received and the width of their grins.
The brothers, who claimed Ireland’s first ever Olympic rowing medals, were mobbed by reporters and held forth for several minutes after the French and Norwegians had moved on. We can’t get enough of them.
As they were interviewed by the travelling Irish press corp, their proud mum, Trish, sauntered by and gave a proud thumbs up.
Asked about their plans when they eventually head home – Paul is off to Rotterdam for a world championship event next week – the lads had some ideas. Gary told The42.ie:
“The way things are going, we’ll have to start patenting a lot of words we use.
“Ah no, it’s all good. It’s just a bit of fun. We’re enjoying what we’re doing. We’ve had a great regatta.
“We always said that this sport of rowing is hard enough as it is so we try to make it as easy as we can.”
They may make it look easy but it was far from that. They deserve every euro and cent they can get once the party stops and they head back to Ireland.
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