IRELAND WILL HAVE at least four medal chances at the European Rowing Championships, with three more crews still hoping to join their team-mates in Sunday’s finals.

Friday’s impressive slate of performances was capped by the women’s four of Emily Hegarty, Eimear Lambe, Aifric Keogh and Fiona Murtagh who their heat and also finished with the fastest qualifying time of the day (06:36.98).

Lydia Heaphy also has her sights set on the podium in the lightweight women’s single scull after she led from wire to wire to win her heat in a time of 07:50.15.

In the heats of the lightweight men’s single scull, Skibbereen’s Gary O’Donovan’s second-place finish in 07:07.23 was enough to see him straight through to the A final.

While the women’s pair of Monika Dukarska and Aileen Crowley also qualified for the A final after they chased home the Romanian crew to finish second in their heat in 07:22.04.

Reigning world champions Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy are among the Irish boats back on the water in Saturday’s A/B semi-finals after they cruised through Friday’s heats as the fastest qualifiers in a time of 06:54.75.

Aoife Casey and Margaret Cremen are first out on Saturday when they go in the A/B semi-final of the lightweight women’s double. Casey and Cremen finished Friday’s heat in second place behind the Netherlands in a time of 07:56:00.

The men’s double of Philip Doyle and Ronan Byrne will also line up in the A/B semis after finishing second in their heat and then second in the repechage to secure their place.

Daire Lynch will compete in the C/D semi-final of the men’s single scull after finishing fourth in Friday’s repechage.

Saturday

9.37am/9.44am – LW2x A/B Semi-Final – Aoife Casey & Margaret Cremen

9.51am/9.58am – LM2x A/B Semi-Final – Paul O’Donovan & Fintan McCarthy

11.35am/11.42am – M2x  A/B Semi-Final – Phil Doyle & Ronan Byrne

1.27pm/1.34pm – M1x C/D Semi-Final – Daire Lynch

Sunday

9.51am – LW1 A Final – Lydia Heaphy

10.06am – LM1x A Final – Gary O’Donovan

11.21am – W2 A Final – Monika Dukarska & Aileen Crowley

12.21pm – W4 A Final – Emily Hegarty, Eimear Lambe, Aifric Keogh & Fiona Murtagh

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