SHARING OPTIONS: Paul O’Donovan, left, and Fintan McCarthy after winning gold in the men’s lightweight double sculls. \ Sportsfile It’s often said that the Irish psyche reacts better to being an underdog rather than having the favourites’ tag, but we do have a suspicion that that’s a handy excuse. Certainly, it wasn’t a comfort blanket that Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy needed as they went to Japan for the Olympic Games as favourites to win the men’s lightweight double sculls rowing and backed up that view with a superb performance to claim gold. Given that it was the country’s first gold medal since Katie Taylor’s in 2012, the natural reaction of most was to celebrate the victory for what it was, two top practitioners franking their status as the world’s best. That’s the end of the spectrum we’d lean to as well, but of course there will never be unanimity with such things.