THE Irish Pony Club sent a very strong squad of mounted games players to Scotland and England over the June Bank Holiday weekend when the fantastic weather made for a smooth crossing on the ferries.

The sun continued to shine all weekend and, in particular, on the Wicklow Branch Junior team. Coming off the back of an exceptionally strong season in 2022, this team, which is trained by Mary Molloy, was selected to travel to Scotland and represent the IPC having been crowned Under 10s mounted games champions at last year’s IPC Festival.

The quintet of Laragh Molloy, Ellie Sheane, Nell McDonnell, Matilda Wall and Louisa Smith continued their hot form and put on an extremely mature performance despite their tender years to take the win in Scotland. Their trainer was thrilled with the girls’ performances and the result.

“I knew we would have a good crack at it if the girls and ponies travelled well,” said Molloy. “They are a special little team and they always play their hearts out for me and each other. We didn’t get it all our own way though and it was tit for tat with the Strathern A Team in the first two sessions on Saturday. They gave us a good run for our money but we got off to a great start in the final on Sunday morning taking wins in the first four races which gave us a nice cushion and eased the pressure.”

Selection for IPC Senior teams was based on trials held in early Spring and saw players from branches all over Ireland come together to compete for a position on one of the travelling squads. These trials are always very competitive and regular training sessions follow to ensure those selected gel well and play to their full potential.

Riding in the Wexford colours in Scotland, trainer Lorna Whelan’s team of Jodie Foley (Carlow), Robyn Gahan Darcy (Shillelagh), Sadhbh Monaghan (Meath), Emily Feehan (Laois) and Ross Warren (Wexford) put in a very strong performance over the two days which saw them finish fourth in the ‘A Final’. They also brought home the highly sought after Irish Challenge Cup.

Riding in the Shillelagh colours, Aido Hanlon’s team of Sophie Cosgrave and Daniel Collins (Shillelagh), Pippa Blake (Carlow) Mia Twomey (Kildare) and Isobel Dermody (Galway) played out of their skins to come second in a highly-competitive B final.

Trainer Michael Finn took his team of Megan Adams (Laois), Daniel Callery (Meath), Connor Buckley (Carlow), George O’Callaghan (Tipperary) and Isabelle Byrne (Shillelagh) further south to the Royal Bath and West Show where they competed against some very strong English Teams. They played their way into a very respectable third place in the ‘B Final’.

All teams grew enormously in confidence, ability, technique and teamwork over the course of their training and the weekend and we would hope to see many of them represent the IPC again in future years.

The first qualifier for this year’s Senior mounted games competition at the Dublin Horse Show takes place today at Gorey Show and we will have a full report on that in next week’s issue. Also, there will be coverage of the IPC’s highly successful trip to England for the Junior international tetrathlon competition, an update on the Connolly’s Red Mills eventing series and, of course, a report on this weekend’s Defender/IPC minimus championships.

These start this morning when the riding phase takes place at Nuenna Farm, Freshford. Tomorrow, the first swimmers are due in the pool at The Watershed, Kilkenny, at 7am after which it’s back to Nuenna Farm for the running phase.