Ireland finish seventh with battling display as Swiss triumph

IRELAND finished seventh yesterday in a closely-fought Alltech European Show Jumping Championships in Windsor, England, despite a spirited second-round effort.

A disappointing opening round let them with a mountain to climb and, while round two yielded no return in terms of the team placing, it did leave three of quartet to fight another day, with Darragh Kerins (Night Train) going into tomorrow’s individual grand prix decider in fifth place, Cameron Hanley (SIEC Livello) in ninth place and Cian O’Connor (Rancorrado) 20th of the 25 to make the final.

Switzerland claimed team gold, but only after overcoming the revelation that is Italy, Germany and champions, the Netherlands. Such was the closeness of the battle, that the destination of the medals was in question up to the last riders, with less than two fences separating the top six nations at the close. Putting Ireland’s seventh place – and the competition as a whole – in perspective was the fact just over four faults separated manager Robert Splaine’s team from the bronze medallists, Germany.