Fermanagh duo Ross Corrigan and Nathan Timoney will be part of the Ireland Mens Four crew along with John Kearney and Fionnán McQuillan-Tolan that will compete at the European Championships in Bled, Slovenia this weekend.

This is a massive year for the rowers with Olympic qualification up for grabs at the World Championships in Croatia but Corrigan says that they will just be focusing on one event at a time, starting with the European Championships.

"It’s definitely a case of taking it one event at a time for us. The European championships is the first big racing weekend for us this year so it is a chance to set down a marker of where we are across the field," he said.

In terms of targets for the championships, Corrigan stresses that they will just focus on getting their performance right and everything else will look after itself after that.

"I’m a firm believer in putting process over outcome. It’s easy to look at a championship event and want the medals because of course I want a gold medal next Sunday but focusing on that will only take away from our ability to race at our best.

"So I’d say the main goal is be competitive and race at our best," he added.

These championships will also give the Ireland crew an indication of where they are at compared to the other crews at this stage of the season.

"It will show us where we are at right now in our preparation for the qualifying regatta later in the year.

"Last year we didn’t get the chance to race before the World Championships so this will definitely be a huge advantage to us no matter what happens."

Corrigan and Timoney have rowed for Ireland together at underage level before moving up to senior and Corrigan feels that it is great to have that familiarity.

"Having someone else from home on the team is definitely a huge positive, the team as a whole is already very tight knit but having someone who came from the same club as you is an extra whenever you’re so far from home.

"It’s also brilliant for when we get to go back to the Enniskillen Royal Boat Club and see everyone, there’s such a good club atmosphere it’s savage," he said.

This is set to be a busy time for the duo and while they are looking to take it one race at a time, the bigger picture is that Olympic qualification in September.

"The main goal is qualifying for the Olympics at the World Championships this September. A very exciting few months ahead and I’m very grateful to be able to look forward to them," stated Corrigan.