Nations Cup fourth not enough to stop Irish slide
Ireland were placed second-last in the league going into the British fixture, but they were forced to trade places with the Dutch who placed third yesterday. Germany ran out winners ahead of the US.
Cian O’Connor, on Waterford Crystal, in his first Nations Cup since his ban ended, kept the team in the hunt in the first round with a clear.
Shane Breen (World Cruise) put up eight faults which, combined with 20 from David Quigley (Ashdale Futuro), left Ireland in fifth place at the halfway stage. Denis Lynch was the discard score, accumulating 21 faults with Domingo.
While O’Connor finished with nine faults in round two, improved scores of four, five and eight from Breen, Quigley and Lynch respectively saw the team move up to fourth on a total of 45.
However, with the Dutch coming home one place better on 39 faults, Ireland returned to familiar territory at the bottom of the league with 11.5 points and contemplating relegation.
While their points tally is just 0.5 behind the Netherlands, with Belgium just a further 0.5 ahead, it puts further pressure on the Irish team to produce a good result in next week’s Dublin Horse Show.
