Andy McDonough competed in the men’s coxless four at the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games alongside Martin Feeley, Jaye Renehan and Iain Kennedy, a crew that was eliminated at the repechage stage. The crew was a more fluid combination than the established coxed four.

They were required to qualify for the final selection at Amsterdam – a mission accomplished – and were the first time Ireland’s Olympic rowing squad comprised three crews. A member of the Garda Síochána Boat Club (GSBC), McDonough was part of the remarkable GSBC senior eight that dominated Irish rowing in the mid-1970s.