O’Donovan and McCarthy give Ireland a great start on day 2

It’s the second day of the Olympic Games in Paris and the Irish team have made a good start on the water this morning.

Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy began their hunt for another gold medal when they cruised through their heat in the men’s lightweight double sculls with ease.

The duo from Skibereen finished first, ahead of Norway and Greece, securing a place in the semi-finals.

Elsewhere this morning, Fiona Murtagh and Aifric Keogh finished second in the women’s coxless pair with a time of 7:28:22 to reach their semi-final.

Margaret Cremen and Aoife Casey took third place and a place in the repechage in their women’s lightweight double sculls heat.

In the coxless men’s pair, Ross Corrigan and Nick Timoney finished in third place, beating the Swiss world champion and qualifying for the semi-finals with a time of 6:32:34.

Emily Hegarty, Natalie Long, Eimear Lambe and Imogen Magner were drawn for a tough test phase in the women’s coxless four but qualified for the repechage on Tuesday as they finished third this morning.

In the pool, Mona McSharry finished second in her heat in the women’s 100m breaststroke with a time of 1 minute, 5 minutes, qualifying for the semi-finals.

In the boxing ring, however, Aidan Walsh suffered a defeat against hometown favourite, Frenchman Makan Traore, in their 71kg match.

Walsh won the first round, but was hit in the third round and could not recover.

Later today at 4.30pm Grainne Walsh will take on Hungary’s Anna Luca Mamori in her 66kg match.

And Jack Marley starts his Olympic adventure by taking on Poland’s Mateusz Bereznicki in a bout up to 92 kg at 7:15 p.m.

The women’s rugby sevens will start strongly when they take on Team GB in the first match of the group stage at 2.30pm.

Meanwhile, sailors Robert Dickson and Sean Waddilove are involved in the Men’s Skiff event this afternoon.