Along with team mate Peter Hanily, Peter took gold in the junior mens's double scull competition at the Coupe de la Jeunesse at the weekend, in effect the European Championships. Hosted by the Irish Amateur Rowing Union the competition involving 11 European nations was held at the National Rowing Centre, Inniscarra Lake, Cork.
Peter was back home on Monday and took time to chat to the Times at Bann Rowing Club. In a tremendous battle, the two oarsmen clinched first place in their final race on Sunday and the satisfaction at beating the best in Europe is still evident in his smile.
Peter said: "On Saturday we did well in the heats but only managed third in the final. We were disappointed but we knew we had a bit more to give the next day.
"We had only got our boat a few days before the race after the one we used at training camp proved to be too light for us. It was a heavier boat and it knocked our confidence a bit.
"In the Sunday heats the GB team, who had won the final on Saturday, beat us into second place by one second, but we were in the final. We were up against GB, Switzerland, Belgium, Netherlands and France.
"We stuck to our plan and went off hard from the start. At 500 metres we hit it again and it really worked. At 1000 we went again and from 600 metres we gave it everything we had.
"At that stage we were just behind Switzerland but we kept going and won by about two seconds, Belgium third and GB fourth. It was so different from domestic competition, everybody went flat out for the whole race, and I only realised we had won after we stopped and we heard the commentator."
So, how did it feel? "It was pretty awesome and we were very sore. What a feeling when we realised we had done it. We hadn't gone out expecting to win and it was fantastic that we did."
The category was the most highly contested of the competition and pitted the young Irish pair against the best in Europe, if not the world.
Peter says that the win was the pinnacle of two years of training and thanked his coach Seamus Reynolds for his unflagging dedication and enthusiasm during all those hours of training and development. he also hopes that the up and coming young stars at Bann keep up the work and reap the benefits in time to come.
For now Peter is resting for a few weeks before going off to Beijing with his family to support big brother Richard, rowing for Team GB, as well as Alan Campbell and Richard Archibald, in the Olympics.
The it will be decision time for Peter. He plans to go to Oxford Brookes University in Oxford to study Sports Science in the autumn. The rowing club there is legendary and he is looking forward to joining in but he will then have to decide if he will pitch his hat at Team GB or the Irish squad for the next stage in his rowing career.
No matter which path he chooses, Peter will undoubtedly be making his mark on the rowing world for many years to come.
Coleraine Inst rower Jonathan Mitchell was also in action, taking a double silver at the competition.