A NAILBITING afternoon of top show jumping was delivered at the La Baule Nations Cup yesterday afternoon (Friday) where Switzerland took the win and Ireland had to settle for fifth place despite a gallant performance which saw them share the lead at the halfway stage with the Swiss winners.

A brilliant round-one performance from Michael Blake’s top team of Cian O’Connor, Bertram Allen, Darragh Kenny and Shane Sweetnam saw Team Ireland in joint first on a zero score with Switzerland at the halfway point.

However, it was to be Switzerland’s day for the team of Elian Baumann (Campari Z), Steve Guerdat (Albfuehren’s Maddox), Martin Fuchs (Conner 70) and Beat Mandli (Dsarie).

There was absolutely no breathing room at La Baule yesterday as the joint first-round leaders of Switzerland and Ireland were chased hard with Italy and Britain on just one fault apiece. Belgium was just a fence behind in third on four faults, while added to the excitement at the mid-way point was Sweden and Brazil tied on just five faults each.

First in for Ireland in round one, Cork’s Shane Sweetnam with Karlin Van’t Vennehof (Fantomas de Muze, owned by the rider and Seabrook LLC, jumped clear with just one time fault on the board.

A brilliant clear round from second to jump for Ireland came from Offaly’s Darragh Kenny with VDL Cartello (Cartani), owned by Lorcan Gallagher and Heathman Farm LCC, followed by another outstanding clear from Wexford’s Bertram Allen and Pacino Amiro (ISH)(Pacino), owned by Donegal’s Aiden McGrory, to put the Irish team in a very strong place.

Cian O’Connor was last to go for Ireland in round one with Kilkenny (ISH)(Cardento), owned by Susan Magnier, and the duo duly produced a stunning clear round to leave the Irish team in a share of the lead with Switzerland at the halfway stage on a zero score and hopes were high for round two in the Irish camp.

The Netherlands were on 13 faults while host nation France and Mexico trailed on 17 faults each at that point.

Round two

However, luck was just not on the side of the Irish team yesterday with small mistakes costing dear in round two over the 15 jumping efforts in the time allowed of 79 seconds.

Shane Sweetnam was unfortunate that his mare just clipped the top pole at the water tray upright to register four faults in an otherwise faultless round to keep the pressure on Team Ireland.

All eyes were on Darragh Kenny’s second found where an unexpected foot in the water at 13 handed him four faults.

By 4pm, Italy had just edged into the lead on one fault in 78.21 with Switzerland on four in 75.27, Ireland on four in 75.66 and Belgium on four in 77.96, rounding out the top four teams at that point.

Meanwhile, French fortunes went from bad to worse, trailing at 22 faults at that point, while Sweden’s bid fell apart with 26 faults.

Bertram Allen and Pacino Amiro’s second round saw the combination just have the top pole of the fifth fence, an upright, down to finish on an unlucky four faults in 76.48.

At that point, Ireland lay in fifth on a team score of eight with Britain moving up to fourth place on a team total of five.

Cian O’Connor and Kilkenny (ISH) were last to go for Ireland and looked as if they were on their way to posting a fantastic double clear, only to have the very last fence down to put four on the board in 78.95.

The final result was victory for Switzerland (4/230.67), with a brave Italian team in second (7/240.04) and Belgium in third (8/231.84). Team GB were fourth (9/233.32) while Ireland were fifth (12/230.59) and rounding out the top six was Mexico (17/232.83).

La Baule Nations Cup was the first of Team Ireland’s allocated 2021 Longines FEI Nations Cup competitions in Europe’s top division.

Tokyo selections looming

With the selection deadline looming for the Tokyo Olympics, Irish chef d’equipe Michael Blake will have to turn his attention to naming his squad for the Games.

Next important Nations Cup outings for the Irish senior show jumping team are Sopot in Poland on June 18th and Rotterdam, The Netherlands, on July 2nd.