THE Mounted Games Association (MGA) All Ireland League continued over Easter Saturday and Sunday at Kedah Castle in Co Tipperary after Pat Meagher kindly came to the rescue at very short notice, allowing the use of his facilities.

Despite the challenging weather, five open and four junior teams made the journey from Northern Ireland to join the three open and seven junior teams from around the country to make a very hotly contested competition with all teams wanting to add points for the league.

The under 12 and 14 pairs were run as two one-day competitions and on Saturday first place in the under 12 competition went to newcomers Joey Reavey and his partner Delilah. The pair are under eight so to claim this prize was a great achievement and there are surely lots more wins to come.

Darragh Montague and Niamh O’Leary were first in the under 14 pairs, Matt Sinnott and his partner Michael Doherty were second. ]On Sunday Joey and Delilah finished third in the under twelve division behind the strong pairings of John and Darragh in second and Niamh and Lucy in first place. Matt Sinott and Michael Doherty were first in the under 14 competition.

The junior competition was also run as two one-day competitions.

On Saturday the nine junior teams competed in the second leg of the all-Ireland league with the Carlow team claiming first place followed by Cork in second and the team from Meath in third. Antrim were close behind in fourth place, reversing some of the placings from last week which makes it very tight at the top for points in the league.

Cork have a win and a second which gives them 39 points Carlow were third last week and their first placing on Saturday puts them on 38 followed very closely by Antrim on 36 points.

Sunday saw nine teams again take to the field to compete for the Tommy Ryan Cup. This competition was named in honour of Tommy Ryan who died just over a year ago and was a well known supporter and follower of MGA and Pony Club games over the years, travelling around Ireland and Britain to support the Association whenever he could.

The Devitt family presented a trophy to the MGA in his memory and so it was fitting that Graham Devitt, a member of the Carlow team who were on top form again, took the honours on Sunday. Playing with Graham were Ciaran O’Leary, George Connolly and Nicholas Tucker. Second were the young and upcoming Co Louth team of Aodhan O’Leary, Marie Louise Hughes, Sarah Flaherty and Leo and Stevie Kieran. In third place was the Cork team of Aisling O’Leary, Niamh Kinsella, Ian Hyland, Clionadh Mourdant and Anna Flood.

OPEN COMPETITION

The open was a two-day competition with the teams carrying their points from Saturday forward to Sunday. The scores were tight between last week’s winners Kildare and the Waterford team with the Co Down and Louth teams also close behind.

The Louth team were in top form on Sunday morning and closed the gap between themselves and Waterford to only three points with Kildare pulling a little ahead.

With everything to play for in the final session, all the teams came out ready to take each other on. When the final race was over, the consistent Kildare team emerged victorious.

Representing Kildare were Jake, Ben and Kate O’Connor and guest player Tom Pharez. Waterford finished second, well done to Craig O’Connor, Philip Weldon, Jamie Reavey and Peter McCarthy. Kildare now top the league with two wins and 40 points with Co Down in second place on 36 points.

The third leg of the league will take place at the Cork show in June.