PHILIP Doyle’s stomach used to churn when mum Una would ask him to nip into the fruit and veg shop near their home in Banbridge.
It was nothing against the people who own the shop, of course. But Una Doyle’s parting words were to remind her son that those same folk had stayed up into the small hours of the morning to watch him and Ronan Byrne compete at Tokyo 2020.
Don’t remind me, he thought.
Because, despite high hopes, the pair flopped in the Far East, only qualifying for the semis via the repechage, then tailing off last. The sense of shame haunted Philip Doyle – but no more.
At Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium on Thursday, beneath beautiful blue skies in Paris, the redemption that had been on his mind for the last three years was finally achieved when he and double sculls partner Daire Lynch claimed bronze.
“I’m glad they didn’t have to stay up until three o’clock in the morning now,” smiled the 31-year-old doctor, who admitted he almost dropped an oar 50 metres from the finish.
“I’ve always used that word redemption over the last few years… it’s great to come to the biggest stage in the world for us and get it done.”
It is just 16 months since Clonmel man Lynch turned his back on life in America, where he had attended Yale University, determined to pursue an Olympic dream that had mostly drifted out of sight.
At that stage Doyle was eyeing up a possible crack at the singles. But when Lynch came through the Irish trials, the new Irish pair some formed a bond that would drive them all the way to the podium.
Cheering on from the stands were the families of both. Once they safely negotiated the semi-final, a whole host of flights were booked.
Niall Lynch, Daire’s father, estimated something approaching the 50 mark for those who had travelled, including the parents and brother of Daire’s girlfriend, Martina Roman.
“They came from Ecuador,” he said, “flew from Quito to New York, and over to here. They’ve been here all week, unbelievable support.”
Sitting nearby were Doyle’s mother Una and girlfriend, Tiffany McDonald. Una admitted she had spent the first half of the race doing nothing but praying.
And, in the midst of the Irish celebrations, and the delight at watching from above as her son smiled and waved for the cameras, Una’s late husband Eamon – a former BBCNI cameraman who passed away in 2015 – was there in her thoughts.
It was the same for Philip too; thinking how much he would have loved this, having only caught the very beginning of his son’s trek towards the top.
“I only just started my rowing career and brought back my first medal to him in the hospice in Newry. I brought my first medal to him, I can’t bring what will maybe be my last one, who knows.
“But I always say a little prayer on the start line - not to him but just to whoever’s out there listening, I always take a little bit of solace from it. I know he’s not going to push me down the course but it’s great to do something in somebody’s memory, no matter what way it is.
“I love when my mother is here to watch, she gives me a bit of a spur on. Before Tokyo we came seventh in the Europeans and then myself and Ronan [Byrne] won a silver at the next World Cup.
“In between times she called me up and said ‘will you stop that nonsense, you’re not giving up your job to go and be in a B final, you either win a medal or you’re coming home’.
“Daire’s been winning the medals so she hasn’t given off yet.”
What made the pair’s Paris performances all the more remarkable was the fact Lynch had been feeling under the weather all week. Still they were fastest through the heats, then the semi-finals, before finishing behind the powerhouse Romanian and Dutch pairs in the big one.
“I wasn’t feeling well at all. ‘Viper’ [head coach Fran Keane] was telling me it was in my head… it wasn’t though.
“But, to be honest, today I felt the best all week, so I thought we were going to have a good run. But that obviously played a part in how I was feeling after the race. Just a bit shook to be honest.”
The 26-year-old has a tendency to hang in the background when the pair are in the public eye. Yet, although not as naturally gregarious as Doyle, Lynch’s arrival is a testament to his own insatiable desire.
Dad Niall recalls how, after showing an aptitude for the sport, his son contacted several of the top rowers in the world to ask what their training programmes looked like. Armed with the information that came back, he mirrored their efforts.
Then, without an Erg machine, his club coach handed him the key to the Clonmel club, encouraging him to work away.
“In the mornings he’d go down on his bike, get on the machine every morning before school, back up, shower, out to school, then back in the evening. Every single day.”
It was his call to go to the States after a slew of top level showings in the Irish championships left Lynch a wanted man. Even then, he wanted to mix with the very best. At Yale, though, it took a bit of time to make an impression.
“Probably the coaches didn’t think he was big enough,” said Niall Lynch, “they love the big guys.
“There’s a guy called Sam Baum who wrote a fantastic tribute to Daire before this started. He was the guy who recruited him for Yale, and he tells a great story about Steve Glassman, an old coach in the States.
“They were tossing up between another fella and Daire, this real tall guy. Sam said he wanted Daire, yer man wanted the tall guy. So Sam told him if you don’t shake Steve Glassman’s hand with a proper handshake, well…
“So all the way from JFK airport to New Haven, he practised shaking hands with him - then Daire nearly took his hand off when he met him.”
The rest, of course, is history. Working for a market research start-up in New York called Newton X allowed him the flexibility to continue training, if not quite to the level required to compete at international level.
Then the penny dropped.
“I was over there working, and I said ‘sure there’s more to life than this…’”
So, just as he upped and left for Yale, Lynch traded it all again, coming home with the Olympics in sight, never once looking back.
