Sport

Impressive Ireland share Nations’ Cup second with Great Britain

Just one fence separated the pair from France – the eventual winner

Irish rider Michael Kelly in action during the Nations Cup at the International Official Show Jumping at Las Mestas racecourse in Gijon, Asturias, northern Spain. Photo: Alberto Morante/PA
Irish rider Michael Kelly in action during the Nations Cup at the International Official Show Jumping at Las Mestas racecourse in Gijon, Asturias, northern Spain. Photo: Alberto Morante/PA
Sun Aug 30 2015 - 12:53

Ireland staged an impressive recovery at the five-star Nations’ Cup in Gijon, Spain on Saturday to finish equal second with Great Britain.

Just one fence separated the pair from the winners, France, who, on a score of zero, shared the lead at the halfway stage with Belgium.

One of five teams in joint fourth spot on eight faults after the first round, Ireland and Britain stayed on that score to share the runner-up spot while the French team picked up four faults for the win. With 12 faults, Belgium dropped down to finish fourth along with The Netherlands and Switzerland.

Afterwards, Irish show jumping team manager Robert Splaine commented: “Cameron Hanley’s double clear round on Patrick Mielnik’s Z Acodate DDL was special, particularly as the horse was having his first Nations’ Cup here today. Only five other combinations from a total of 40 achieved this result.

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“We also had a decisive second round clear from Captain Michael Kelly and the Minister for Defence’s Irish Sport Horse Ringwood Glen, this horse having his first appearance at five star team jumping. It was also great to see Anthony Condon make his five-star Nations’ Cup debut with such a fine performance on Pat and John Hales’s home bred Aristio, a horse that has never jumped in any Nations’ Cup before.

“An outstanding clear round from our anchor man Dermott Lennon and that magnificent servant of Irish show jumping, Judith Sossick’s Loughview Lou Lou, came at a crucial time to help us get on the podium.”

Across the Atlantic, Limerick native Paul O’Shea, one of five riders in the jump-off round, won Saturday’s $40,000 Longines Cup in Bridgehampton, New York on Skara Glen’s Dolphin having fallen with the same horse in the previous day’s Grand Prix qualifier.

In eventing, Ireland lies third in the European young riders’ championship in Strezegom, Poland ahead of today’s concluding show jumping phase while cross-country action at the Drishane Castle horse trials in Millstreet commences this morning at 8.30.