IRISH Pony Club mounted games riders were in action last week at the National Ploughing Championships as they performed in front of one of their largest audiences in their final competition of the year.

In the under 10s section, these young riders gave it their all, riding with great confidence and bravery on the day. In particular, the Meath team of Polly Geraghty (6), Harvey McGarthy (6), Rosita Dunne (7), Clodagh Carry (9) and Ben Baker (9) have all shown huge improvement this season.

The Wicklow team of Laragh Molloy (Woody), Ellie Sheane (Spot), Matilda Wall (Goldie), Nell McDonnell (Patches) and Louisa Smyth (Pugsey) came into the competition as the 2022 Under 10s National Champions, having won the title at the Irish Pony Club Festival in July.

They also had convincing wins at Stradbally, Tinahely and the two-day International at Barnadown. A win at the Ploughing Championships to finish up the season confirmed them as very worthy champions.

With four of the five Wicklow girls moving up to play Junior games next year, their coach Mary Molloy said: “We’ve had a great year. The girls live for playing games and they are very lucky to have five fantastic ponies. We are looking forward to moving up to the junior ranks next year. If we can keep them together and the right ponies under them, they might even play as a senior team in the RDS one day. It would certainly be nice for The Wicklows to give some of the more well recognised games playing branches a run for their money on the hallowed turf.”

The Wexford team of Clodagh Murphy, Faye Warren, Niamh Kavanagh, Lydia Murphy and Roisin Byrne have also had a great season securing second place on the day under the guidance of their coach Edel Nolan.

Nolan said: “I was new to Pony Club and Mounted Games this year but we have had the best summer, we’ve made some great new friends and had lots of laughs along the way. We are looking forward to next year already.”

The final scores were Wicklow 73 points, Wexford 61pts, Duhallow 51pts, Tipperary 45pts, Meath 42pts, Shillelagh 40pts, Laois 27pts and Carlow 22pts.

Ploughing win for Meath seniors

The Meath team of Sophia Murray (Marcel), Harriet Mangan (Scooby), Lauren Callery (Blossom), Sadhbh Monaghan (Storm) and Jack Mangan (Sprite) claimed the Ploughing Championship Cup in the senior division with a score of 90 points and a huge margin of 18 points over their nearest rivals.

Trainer Mark Crowe said: “They were a remarkable group of kids to work with. The team spirit that they shared, shone through the summer with great comradery at training and super focus and determination at the competitions, which all paid dividends in not only getting to the RDS, but winning it!”

Joy for Carlow juniors

The winning junior team was the Carlow team of Lily Hatton (Piper), Katie Foley (Ellie), Cillian Tobin (Molly) and Conor Buckley (Luca). This team went into the ploughing championship on a high, having won the championship in the International at Barnadown a few weeks earlier.

A total of 10 Junior teams contested this championship, which included two Ward Union teams for the first time this year. The Shilleagh team finished second after a disqualification proved costly for them, followed by Laois in third and Kildare in fourth. Despite going into this final competition full of confidence, Carlow got off to a poor start unlike Shilleagh who started strong. The Meath, Laois and Kildare teams were always snapping at their heels.

Along with the team events, four pairs teams were also in action. Taking the win was the Shilleagh duo of Cormac Byrne and Jake Brannigan. The pairs competition was very hotly contested by the four sets and the general word was that it was the best of the season.