THE hour had finally arrived, no matter how early it was, and a crowded Molly Darcy's in Muckross was to place to be as Killarney’s Paul Griffin and the Irish coxless fours took to the waters of Athens for the Olympic final of the lightweight coxless fours.

The much-anticipated race was scheduled to begin at 7.10am on Sunday morning last and, even at that early hour, a large contingent of family, friends and supporters packed into Molly Darcys to see how the race would unfold.

The first pictures beamed on the large screen showed an Irish crew drenched in the warm morning sun – a far cry for the rain that greeted the early birds from Paul’s parish Fossa, his rowing club Muckross, and further afield.

The sight of Paul and the Irish crew was greeted by deafening roars of encouragement but then a hush descended on the large crowd as the race was poised to start.

It was the proverbial calm before the storm, as the supporters burst into life seconds later and roared on Paul and the Irish crew.

The first television pictures of Paul were greeted by the usual shouts of approval.

At the 500m and the halfway splits, Paul and the crew were firmly in medal contention and the expectations were suddenly raised as the excitement became untenable. The audience could envisage a medal, no matter what the colour, and that fuelled the electric atmosphere.

Alas, as the race wound to a finish, the Irish crew faded and finished outside of the medal places. However, there was a moment as the race reached the finishing line when a deceptive camera angle seemed to show the Irish crew nearly sneak into a medal position. The crowd responded with cries of joy but, as it turned out, it was the Dutch crew, not Paul and the Irish lads.

Delight turned to despair upon realisation, but the appreciative gathering spontaneously broke out in an emotional round of applause as recognition of how proud everyone was of Paul and his phenomenal achievement.

Paul’s father Donie couldn’t hide how proud he was of his son’s achievement at competing in an Olympic final and foresees a bright future for Paul in his pursuit of Olympic gold.

“I am very proud of Paul, he did his best and that’s all he could do. He is only young and there are years ahead of him.

“They are a young crew and there is more to come. I am just so proud of him,” Donie Griffin said.

Paul’s older brother Danny echoed his fathers sentiments of being overwhelmingly proud of his sibling’s accomplishment.

“I am very proud of Paul, he did his best and that’s all he could do. He is sixth in the world and he did his best so we can’t ask for anymore.”

James Manning, a team mate of Paul at Muckross Rowing Club, analysed the race and pointed at the Irish crew’s phenomenal start (second after the first split) as the right tactic to have employed but it may just have burnt them out as the race progressed.

“They went very hard from the start and that gave us what we wanted, some hope. The tendency of the Irish crew is not to have a strong finish and if they were up there with 500 metres to go then they may have got a medal. Unfortunately they died off because they had spent their energy in the first 500 metres.”

According to James, and popular belief, this is only the start of the Paul Griffin story and with a few minor crew changes, Beijing in four years could well be the time when Paul achieves his lifelong goal of winning an Olympic gold medal.

“I think there are a lot more proud moments to come. I think there’s even better to come. If Sean Casey returns to this crew then they can do even better,” James added.

Colin Miller, Fianna Fáil councillor and a neighbour of the Griffins, was present to show his support and voiced his delight at the historic achievements of Kerry’s first Olympic oarsman.

“It’s a fantastic achievement to come sixth in the world. They have done very well in the heats and all the way through and we are really proud of them. We are very proud of Paul, they did their best and everyone is delighted.”

So as the curtains were drawn on Paul Griffin’s Olympic dream for another four years, the general feeling was one of unbridled pride and joy, and the forecast was of more success for the Fossa native and a homecoming to beat all others when Paul returns home.