NHS rejection leads Doyle back to World Championships

Fintan McCarthy and Philip Doyle will represent Ireland at the World Championships

Olympic medallists Philip Doyle and Fintan McCarthy have joined forces to form an exciting men's double scull for Ireland that will make its debut at the World Championships in Shanghai on Sunday.

With no lightweight rowing in the Olympic programme for Los Angeles, McCarthy, who won gold in Tokyo with Paul O'Donovan and then defended the title in Paris last year, has had to put on a few pounds in order to continue his career.

After re-committing himself to the sport after taking bronze in the double sculls final in Paris with Daire Lynch, Doyle had to prove himself all over again to claim the seat behind McCarthy.

"I applied to go into the training programme with the NHS, to work and to push forward towards my consultancy in emergency medicine, which I've been working for this year," explained Doyle, who has alternated between training to be a doctor and his rowing for several years.

"When I heard that I wasn't accepted into the training programme, that's when the decision to go back to rowing was made abundantly clear.

"I'm just doing some local emergency contract work in the hospital as much as I can and then trying to get ready for Shanghai."

'Gold would be the dream'

While Doyle was deciding on his immediate future, McCarthy and Belfast's Konan Pazzaia were racing and winning bronze together at the European Championships.

However, for the World Championships which take place from 21-28 September, everyone, Olympic medallist or not, had to trial for the seats in the top Irish boat.

"I think the reason I'm back is because I think the motivation is still there," Doyle added.

"I thought if I go and do this trial and it doesn't really matter where I am, then that's a sign to go and I found I was as competitive as ever.

"It mattered more than ever because you were an Olympic medallist coming in to try and establish where you were among the ranking of athletes.

"So it actually mattered more this year and the motivation is still there, which sort of helped me with that decision making process."

Doing well at the world championships it's important for a number of reasons, none more so than it secures continued funding from Sport Ireland which is performance based.

So, there was much at stake at the Irish trials.

"It was a formidable field to come back into. I was at the back of the pack at the start, and I had to slowly crawl my way towards that top end," Doyle explained.

"Konan was part of the mix and along with Fintan and myself, the three of us were going at it for three days in a row.

"It was nail biting stuff towards the end, really pushing hard. It was grit and determination, and I think just a little bit of experience in the boat class of the double that sort of won out the day for Fintan and myself."

Now there is a real opportunity for Doyle and McCarthy to become world champions.

Doyle has two world medals, but neither is gold.

"I think the potential in the boat is huge going forward now. The day of the trial, it was our second time in a boat together ever, but it seemed to go very well.

"Gold medals are very hard to come by, especially in heavyweight men's rowing but I think now we can confidently say that our target is a medal.

"Gold would be the dream."

Pazzaia will row in the men's single sculls while Paris Olympic finalists from County Fermanagh, Ross Corrigan and Nathan Timoney, reunite in the men's pair.