Fermanagh woman Dineka Maguire recently rowed for Ireland at the World Coastal Beach Sprint championships in Saundersfoot, Wales.

Roscor woman Maguire wore the green jersey in the mixed quad with Kealan Mannix (Rosscarbery Rowing Club), Noel Creeden (Ring Rowing Club), Niamh Doogan (Kincasslagh Rowing Club) and Cian Sweeney (Loughros Rowing Club) storming to a seventh-place finish just behind France.

Dineka Maguire previously rowed for Portora Royal School, Queen’s University Belfast and Trinity College Dublin.

Maguire now resides down in Dublin, rowing for Kincasslagh Rowing Club.

This is the first time Maguire was selected for the World Beach sprints team after successfully being selected for the Worlds Endurance team in 2021 and 2022.

‘Great appreciation’

“It has always been a dream to represent Ireland, no matter the discipline. I have great appreciation for all athletes that I stand beside on the start line. The dedication it takes to just be on the start line is exceptional,” she said.

The weekend’s proceedings saw the Irish crew complete a time trial to establish seedings.

After successfully knocking out Germany, Finland and Italy, the Irish crew took on Japan. The Irish crew put in a dominant performance, leading to an eight-second win and booking a place in the quarter finals.

Narrowly missed out

Maguire and crew took on the French composite quad in the quarter finals, where they narrowly missed out on a place in the semi-finals. This resulted in finishing seventh at the championships.

“It was a great race in such challenging conditions. The weekend was full of surprises, with conditions changing within the minute.

“I was looking across and seeing I was racing Olympians and world medallists, thinking, ‘I’m just the wee woman from up the hill in Roscor!’ It can’t get better than that,” said Maguire.

Next up, she teams up with Niamh Doogan as they head of to San Sebastian, Spain, for the European Coastal Championships.