Ennis hails ‘genius’ Fearon for Irish success
Ireland finished sixth at the showcase event in Normandy, France, to book their ticket to Rio 2016 and Ennis says it was Fearon’s place as the lynchpin of the squad that proved the winning ingredient.
“He’s a genius. The Irish set-up would, somewhat, fall apart without him. He’s very much in the middle and he keeps everybody knitted together, especially if you hit a low patch.
“When I am competing, he’d be the first person to come through with a text to say ‘well done Sarah’. Even last night, I got a text message — I was only driving in the gate after arriving home from WEG around 11pm — and he said ‘well done Sarah, I hope you are home safe, super job with an amazing little horse’.
“In terms of his knowledge of show jumping, you just trust him wholly. Everybody loves Ian and thinks the world of him. No matter what level a rider is at, he will have a word of advice.
“But he will not plámás you along. If you make a mistake, he’ll tell you that you stink and I appreciate that black-and-white approach.”
The Meath-based rider said that once Olympic qualification was achieved, the overwhelming feeling was one of “huge relief”.
“I think that is the first time that Ireland has qualified at the first chance. Everybody was on a high.
“But, it’s funny, all the team members had a roller-coaster ride. Some of us had crap dressage, great cross-country, not so good show jumping. We all had our good bits, and we all had our bad bits.”
Ennis was speaking at the announcement of details of the Johnson and Perrott Land Rover International Horse Trials in Ballindenisk, Co Cork. The event takes place at the spiritual home of eventing in Ireland near Watergrasshill from Sept 18-21 and has attracted some of the biggest names in the sport, including a first-time visit for four-time Olympic medallist Andrew Hoy, whose prowess has also seen him win the foremost events in the world, such as Badminton and Burghley. Oliver Townend, a regular raider, will lead the British challenge, and be aiming to dominate the Mervue Equine Ireland three-star class, one of two competitions he won last year. Izzy Taylor helped Britain to secure victory in the nations cup at the spring fixture in Ballindenisk and is on form at the moment, while Italy’s Vittoria Pannizon and giovanni Ugolotti are also likely to feature strongly.
Three members of the Irish WEG team — Aoife Clark, Joseph Murphy and Sam Watson — will aim to maintain the momentum that secured the Rio ticket, while members of the European gold-medal-winning Irish junior eventing squad, Cathal Daniels, Susie Berry, Nessa Briody, Lucy Latt and Shannon Nelson, will put team loyalties aside as they vie to win the one-star junior class.
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