"We'll be reunited soon."

While most of Ireland's athletes were in attendance, there were some notable absentees, the most outstanding being gold medalist Paul O'Donovan.

The Skibbereen rowing champ raced to glory alongside his partner on the water Fintan McCarthy, with the latter returning to Paris as Ireland's flagbearer for the closing ceremony on Sunday.

However, while McCarthy and the rest of the athletes arrived back in Dublin, O'Donovan missed out on the Olympics celebrations with a very Paul O'Donovan reason.

Back-to-back Olympic champion Fintan McCarthy was without his rowing partner Paul O'Donovan on stage (O'Donovan has returned to work) but explains his journey to success at the Team Ireland homecoming pic.twitter.com/rd0mVZpMvM

— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) August 12, 2024

Fintan McCarthy explains why Paul O'Donovan couldn't attend Olympics homecoming

"Fintan, I'm going to say, not for the first time, you have been abandoned," said RTÉ's Joanne Cantwell as the rower took to the stage in Dublin.

The 27-year-old replied by saying, "I know, we'll leave him off, he's doing a really good job there in CUH (Cork University Hospital).

"We miss him of course, but we'll be reunited soon."

He further explained to a shocked Cantwell that his fellow rower was "back to work, back to training."

"I think I need a bit more of a rest than that but fair play to him," he added.

Fintan McCarthy hints at rowing team-up for LA Olympics

When asked about his future plans with LA, McCarthy said he "might have to give it a go, we'll see what these lads are doing," pointing to bronze medalists Daire Lynch and Philip Doyle.

"We might join forces, we'll see," he added to huge cheers from the crowd.

"Are talking there might be a fours now in LA, is that what we're saying?" asked Cantwell, to which McCarthy replied with a "who knows?"

The men's double-sculls is being replaced by a beach sprints event in the upcoming LA Olympics in 2028.

However McCarthy and O'Donovan may now have their eyes on the quadruples event.

Three other medal events have been proposed by World Rowing for LA - the men's solo, women's solo and the mixed double sculls.

The proposed mixed event would be the first of it's kind for rowing in the Olympics.