IRELAND'S Aga Khan team finished equal second in the final Meydan Nations' Cup of 2010 at the Failte Ireland Dublin Horse Show today (Friday) on a total of 20 faults.
The result also cemented Ireland's place in the Meydan Superleague for 2011, with points accumulated over this year's eight legs putting them in fourth place overall of the world's top ten teams.
Clear rounds this afternoon from Billy Twomey and 'Tinka's Serenade', Cian O'Connor riding 'K Club Lady' and Denis Lynch with 'Nabab's Son' pushed Ireland up into joint second place with the USA, but neither nation could catch an in-form Netherlands quartet, who needed a prime result at Dublin to avoid 2011 relegation, and produced their best performances of the year to finish in first place with just four faults.
With Twomey the only zero score after the first round, and a discard twelve faults from Dermott Lennon and 'Hallmark Elite', Ireland carried a tally of 16 faults into the final round, and though Twomey had one rail down and Lennon registered eight faults on his second attempt, O'Connor and his new mare produced a textbook clear, followed by an identical zero-score performance from Tipperary's Denis Lynch to add just four faults to the overall total.
Afterwards Team Ireland Equestrian's show jumping manager Robert Splaine said: "It has been a very satisfactory outcome to the year, and we accomplished some of our main goals, such as finishing first at Aachen and ending up fourth overall in the Meydan league. We would love to have won today on home ground for the home crowd, but the Dutch proved to be very strong and in the end had a well-deserved win.
'We dug deep in the second round, as we have done so many times before, and it shows the mettle and quality of the riders that they are able to produce a result like this under such pressure.
"I'd like to pay tribute to all the Irish riders who participated in this year's Meydan league and who produced such top class performances for us. Thanks of course, must also go to the owners who made it all possible and to our large back-up team, including the staff at Horse Sport Ireland, who worked so tirelessly for us behind the scenes."
France won the overall Meydan title for 2010, though finishing in fourth place at Dublin, while Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Poland will now be relegated to the FEI Promotional League for 2011, as the four lowest-scoring teams of 2010. Two teams will be promoted from that league and next year the superleague will contain eight teams instead of ten.
Ireland finished equal fifth at the end of last year's Meydan Series.