THE Irish senior eventing team, who won the silver medal at the Agria FEI European Championships in Blenheim, has been nominated for the ‘Team of the Year’ at the 2025 Team Ireland Olympic Sport Awards.

The team of Padraig McCarthy, Ian Cassells, Robbie Kearns and Aoife Clark, led by High Performance manager Dag Albert, rose to second place after a masterful cross-country performance and held on to that position on the final day of show jumping to win Ireland’s first European team medal for 30 years.

Voting is done by members of the public by visiting www.olympics.ie and is open until November 14th. The eventing team is up against the rowing duo of Fintan McCarthy and Philip Doyle and the men’s 3×3 basketball team.

Speaking to The Irish Field about the nomination, Dag Albert urged all fans to vote. “It’s a great achievement to get this nomination from the Olympic committee, who were looking at all sports, so to be nominated as one of the top three team efforts in the country is fantastic.

“I didn’t realise at the time that it was 30 years since the last medal, and we were fourth at the last Europeans in 2023. The team - all six of them [including reserves Susie Berry and Sarah Ennis] - really deserve this because they all pulled together and they really wanted that medal.

“Please everyone vote for the team, share it on social media and to friends on WhatsApp. I am not great with IT but it is very, very easy to vote and only takes a few seconds.”

Extra special

Albert added that the win would mean an extra amount to Robbie Kearns and Richard Ames, who sadly lost their medal-winning horse Chance Encounter recently, just weeks after the championships. “For the whole Belline team it would be really special to remember the horse.”

For Albert, who has reapplied for the manager job, it was his first senior medal with Ireland while he has also guided the underage teams to medal glory.

“It has been a really good year for eventing; we can see from the results of Ian’s (Cassells) two medals in Le Lion that the riders are getting a really good system going now at home, producing younger horses. We had Austin’s two podiums at five-star level too. There are a lot of good horses coming through so it is really good.”

Arguably the most experienced team member, Padraig McCarthy said the recognition is important to continue to grow the sport. “This is great to get recognition through the Olympic council. Since 2018, when we won team silver in Tryon, there has been a lot of momentum building around eventing in Ireland. The results at five-star and this team medal show we are building real strength in the squad and it was great to have two young guys on the squad in Blenheim. It augurs well for LA in three years’ time and for the World Championships in Aachen next year.”

The Olympic Sport Award Trophy, also known as the Olly, is inspired by the Olympic torch and symbolises excellence, resilience and national pride. Its upward flame reflects athletes’ pursuit of their highest potential, while the three steel panels represent the Olympic values of excellence, friendship and respect.

Speaking at the announcement, Peter Sherrard, CEO of the Olympic Federation of Ireland, said: “Irish athletes are consistently achieving phenomenal results on the world stage - winning medals, breaking records, and inspiring the nation. But behind every great performance lies years of dedication, sacrifice, and the tireless work of coaches, performance teams, and communities. These awards, and our new trophy, the Olly, are about recognising that collective effort and celebrating the people who represent the very best of us.”

The ceremony takes place on December 6th with 10 award recipients to be revealed on the night.

Voting opened on Friday and the public are invited to have their say on who they believe should be the winners of the awards before November 14th.

Eventing meeting

Separately, The Irish Field understands that eventing riders had a progressive meeting with Horse Sport Ireland this week where it was agreed to have a panel of six people to select the next High Performance manager. It is understood the panel will include two Horse Sport Ireland representatives, one international selector, an owner representative, a rider representative and an Eventing Ireland representative.