THE Irish mounted games team got a well deserved boost last week as they received their official team kit at Cork show from new sponsors, Devenish, ahead of the World Championships in Kentucky.

Ireland will be the team to watch this year, having won the European Team Championships in Belgium and finished as reserve champions at the World Team Championships in France.

Speaking to The Irish Field, team manager Jerome O’Connor said: “We have a very good team and I am confident that this year they will have a very good chance of taking home the silverware.”

This year’s championships takes place in Lexington, Kentucky, from July 6th to 11th where the Irish team will be competing against opposition from 21 countries across five continents.

The team flying the Irish flag at Kentucky is Jake O’Connor, Tony Whooley, Donelle O’Leary, Aido Hanlon and Mark Devitt.

Kildare’s Jake O’Connor is in his final year of Engineering in DIT in Dublin. This will be O’Connor’s sixth world team championships.

Cork’s Tony Whooley has been representing Ireland at international level since the age of 15 while Cork’s Donelle O’ Leary has competed in many international MGA competitions such as world individuals, world pairs, European individuals.

Meath’s Aido Hanlon has competed in England in all major competitions for the last three years. Hanlon has represented Ireland in many world championships and won the World Championships in Geneva in 2010

Mark Devitt, from Laois, has been competing at the Games since he was 12 years old. He previously won the world teams and world pairs along with the European individuals and team titles.