THE Irish youth show jumpers have had some great results this year and the success continued last week when the Junior team secured the silver medal in the Nations Cup Series Final in Lier, Belgium, complemented by individual wins for Emily Moloney and Ted Fagan.

Moloney, Abbie Oakey, Annie Boland, James Derwin and Isabel O’Brien made up the Junior team and they performed immaculately, with a zero score at the end of three challenging rounds of jumping. Sweden were also on zero, so a jump-off was required, which saw the Swedes claim gold, just ahead of the Irish. The USA filled third place.

Afterwards, Denis Flannelly, HSI youth show jumping High Performance manager said: “I am immensely proud of this team. The four legs of the youth Nations Cup series that we attended earlier in the season - Sentower (BEL), Compiegne (FRA), Zuiwolde (NED) and Hagen (GER) - and performed so well in, qualified us for this final.

“We reached the podium in all four - winning twice, finishing second in one and third in another.”

While the intention of Flannelly and the selection panel was to give more combinations an opportunity to compete at the top level, the main target was the FEI European Championships in Riesenbeck, which only required five horses and riders.

“Those five riders were successful in bringing home team gold at the FEI European Championships and the athletes who just missed out were given the opportunity to have themselves in contention to compete at the final of the Nations Cup Series here in Lier. It was always my intention to bring a different squad of five to Lier, be that different horses or riders. It’s all about widening the talent base,” Flannelly continued.

Bright future

“Emily, Abbie, Annie, Isabel and James competed formidably all week and showed how bright a future they all have. It was wonderful to see Abbie delivering clear rounds every day. Due to the format of this championship, we had the opportunity to select various horse and rider combinations on different days. Results from all five members of the squad contributed to this amazing result.

“For me, this championship was all about development for 2026. To share the podium with Sweden, who we fought with in the jump-off, and the USA, with Germany, Italy and The Netherlands in fourth, fifth and sixth place respectively is incredibly rewarding for the work that has gone into the programme this year.

“One of the many goals of our Youth show jumping programme is to provide a pathway for our young athletes to develop into senior athletes - some of whom will jump on senior Nations Cup teams for Ireland, some will continue to championship level, be that European and World and, of course, the pinnacle of our sport, the Olympic Games.”

Flannelly expressed his thanks to Liz Brennan, Sally Anne Tobin and Denis Lynch as well as the athletes, their families, their teams, their horses and all those who sent messages of support and congratulations during and after the championship.

“The team spirit in the camp being so positive is never to be underestimated when you attend a championship like this. One for all and all for one! This cultural development we embrace within Horse Sport Ireland.

“The Junior athletes that have been involved in the High Performance programme of 2025 have had a fairytale season. European team gold, team silver medal winners in the final of the Youth Nations Cup Series, not to mention all the other wins and podium finishes throughout the season.”

Flannelly concluded: “This championship was about development… development for 2026 and look what happened - proud beyond words!”