Ireland finish fifth in European Championship Team Final – Trio qualify for Individual final

  • 3 September 2021, 16:47

An impressive performance from the Irish Show Jumping team of Daniel Coyle, Michael Duffy, Eoin McMahon and Mark McAuley, managed by Michael Blake, has seen them finish in fifth place of 15 teams following the 2021 Longines FEI Jumping European Jumping Championships team final at Riesenbeck in Germany.

The Irish team included three riders making their Championship debut in Coyle, Duffy and McMahon while McAuley was part of the Irish squad that won the European Championship team gold medal in Gothenburg (SWE) in 2017.

Galway’s Michael Duffy who jumped an excellent clear round in the European Championship team final

With Ireland starting the final in fifth place overall, Daniel Coyle and the Ariel Grange-owned Legacy were pathfinders for the Irish and returned with one fence down for four faults. Galway’s Michael Duffy was next to jump and produced a brilliant clear round with the Katherine Duffy & HMF Equestrian-owned Zilton SL Z.

Co Clare’s Eoin McMahon then looked to be heading for another Irish clear before agonisingly lowering the very last fence to finish with four faults. Co Louth’s Mark McAuley Scea la Tuiliere-owned Jasco vd Bisschop were last to go for Ireland and and they finished on 8 faults giving Ireland a final score of 28.73 to take fifth place overall.

Switzerland won the gold medal on a score of 9.47 while hosts Germany took silver on 12.77. Four clear rounds on the final day saw reigning European Champions Belgium overtake Olympic Champions Sweden to claim the bronze medal on a score of 17.34 with the Swedes finishing fourth less than one penalty ahead of Ireland.

Irish Show Jumping manager Michael Blake

Irish team manager Michael Blake commented:

“Overall I am very pleased with all our riders. Obviously we would have liked to finish a bit higher but we were only one fault off fourth place at the end. We made a conscious decision to give some of our younger riders this opportunity at Championship level as we are going to need them for the future and all-in-all I think it was a very solid performance.”

Daniel Coyle, Michael Duffy and Eoin McMahon have all qualified for Sunday’s European Championship individual final which is open to the top 25 riders. Coyle is best placed of the Irish trio in 12th place on 8.39 penalties. Eoin McMahon is 19th on 10.70 just ahead of Michael Duffy in 20th on 11.37. Swiss rider Martin Fuchs is in the gold medal position on 1.31 with Andre Thieme (GER) in silver on 2.84 while Pieter Devos (BEL) is in bronze on 3.16.

The Irish Show Jumping team is sponsored by Devenish & The Underwriting Exchange
Equiline – Official athlete clothing supplier of Horse Sport Ireland

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