Ross Corrigan and Nathan Timoney (watch below) held on to take third place in their semi-final and a spot in the A final of the men's pair.
After edging world champions Switzerland to progress to the semis, the Fermanagh duo just held off New Zealand and will now race in Friday's final.
Romania and Great Britain took first and second respectively.
It was the Romanians who edged in front early, but Corrigan and Timoney soon found their rhythm and hit the front just after 350 metres. However, Romania and GB were also close by, with the latter pair edging past the Irish with 700 to go.
While Corrigan and Timoney were rowing with a consistent rhythm, their stroke-rate started to drop in the last 100-150 metres, down to 34, but the pair had enough in reserve to progress in a time of 6:32.22.
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Speaking after the race Timoney said it was like a replica of their World Championship final last year, where they finished third.
"We know the Romanians go out hard, GB have a good middle rhythm and the Kiwis also went out hard in the first heat.
"So, I think we knew the best approach was to do what we did last year, and it paid off for us.
"Coming through the second half we were certainly suffering for it. We held the head and it came through for us.
Corrigan said that the pair had to dig deep to get over the line.
"We had a flier there and we were tough. Like it was a tight race but that's what we want.
"Coming off about 500m in the TV launch swerve into the lane so we definitely knew we were up.
"We were wondering if we were going to be suffering but we just dug deep and kept kicking on, it was great craic.
With their own opportunity to win a medal on Friday, Corrigan admitted they are taking inspiration from Daniel Wiffen’s gold medal triumph in the 800m freestyle last night.
"I don’t think Wiffo knows how much of an inspiration he is to the team," Corrigan said.
"We watched the race last night before bed and no different to Phil the night before watching Mona we were wired going to bed.
"He’s great craic and to see him win the gold really spurs everyone else on. It’s savage to be part of Team Ireland and it’s kicking off."
In the women's pair semi-final, Aifric Keogh and Fiona Murtagh finished sixth in a time of 7:32.97.
The race was won impressively by Australia, with USA and Lithuania taking the other places in the final.
Keogh and Murtagh will now contest the B final.
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