Irish duo Nathan Timoney and Ross Corrigan finished sixth in the A final of the men's pair at the World Rowing Championships in Shanghai.
Timoney and Corrigan came into the final off the back of an impressive semi-final display - when they fought back from a disappointing start to finish third in a time of 6:29.99 - and hopes were high that they could match that level today.
However, this time the Fermanagh duo were unable to recover from another slow start and eventually crossed the line in 7:00.73, over 30 seconds down on their semi-final time.
New Zealand led the race from the start to the finish, taking gold in 6:36.87, with Romania second and bronze going to Switzerland.
Elsewhere, it was a successful day for Irish boats with all three of those involved in semi-finals securing progression to their respective A finals.
Siobhan McCrohan (pictured) turned in the best performance of the day, winning her women's single sculls semi-final with a powerful display that saw her take victory by .04 of a second from Mexico's Kenia Lechuga.
Lechuga got off to a blazing start and was 3.09 seconds ahead of second-placed McCrohan at the midway mark, however the 2023 world champion and reigning bronze medallist slowly reeled her in and got her nose just in front when the finish line came, crossing in 8:06.23.
The Galway woman's final is at 7.33am Irish time on Saturday and, like all the Irish deciders, will be live on the RTÉ Player (from 7am).
Olympic gold medallist Fintan McCarthy and Philip Doyle eased to a comfortable second-place finish in the men's double scull semi-final to secure their spot in Friday's A final.
The duo always looked at ease on the water and kept pace with the leading Romanian boat as the two teams left the others fighting it out for the last qualifying place.
They crossed the line in a time of 6:33.10.
Jake McCarthy, brother of Fintan, will compete in the men's single sculls A final after he also came up with a strong finish to his semi-final, overtaking Shakhzod Nurmatov of Uzbekistan in the last 500m to take third and the final qualifying spot in 7:33.01.
The Skibbereen man's final is at 7.50am on Saturday.
As well as McCarthy and Doyle, Fiona Murtagh (5.42am) will be in semi-final action tomorrow, as will Konan Pazzaia (men's single sculls C final), Mags Cremen and Zoe Hyde (women's double sculls B final) and Natalie Long, Emma Waters, Aisling Hayes, and Imogen Magner (women's four B final).
Watch the Irish in action at the World Rowing Championships A finals on the RTÉ Player, from 7am Friday to Sunday
