TEAM Ireland Equestrian’s Show Jumping Team Manager Robert Splaine has named his squad for the first round of the Meydan Super League Nations' Cup series, which will be the Nations’ Cup of France, taking place next Friday, May 14th, in La Baule.

The squad in alphabetical order is

Shane Breen (Tipperary)
Cameron Hanley (Mayo)
Darragh Kenny (Offaly)
Shane Sweetnam (Cork)
Niall Talbot (Kildare)

The Super League is run over eight of Europe’s top shows and is limited to the top 10 teams in the world.

The number of teams competing in the series in 2011 is being reduced to eight and with two teams being promoted only six of the teams in this year’s series will avoid relegation.

Robert Splaine said that he was looking forward to the first round of the competition.

“It is great to be in there competing but it will be a very tough year. With the World Equestrian Games at the end of this year we will also need to use our proven championship combinations more sparingly,” he said.

He added that winning the Nations' Cup of Belgium last weekend had been a good boost.

“Shane Breen copper-fastened his his place with a top class performance on the winning team in Lummen last weekend, while Darragh Kenny impressed at World Cup level in the USA over the winter and was a member of the Nations' Cup team in Wellington, Florida in March.

"Shane Sweetnam and Zamiro have had some good results recently, particularly in the USA . Cameron Hanley and 'Southwind VDL' are regular team members, having appeared in two Meydan Nations' Cup competitions in 2009, and were highly placed in the Calgary Grand Prix last October, and have already competed on our Nations' Cup team in Abu Dhabi this year.

"Cameron himself was fourth individually in the European Championships at Windsor while Niall Talbot and 'Tequi d'I' have performed particulalry well for Ireland in Nations' Cups over the last few years, and their early results from 2010 are encouraging,” he said.

The horses with which the riders are selected are:

Shane Breen; Carmena Z
Cameron Hanley; Southwind VDL
Darragh Kenny; Obelix
Shane Sweetnam; Zamiro 16
Niall Talbot; Techi D’I

The progress of the team can be followed on ww.horsesportireland.ie and the Team Ireland Equestrian page on Facebook.

Robert Splaine