A large crowd descended on Killossery’s club base, owned by the Glynn family, where Killossery secretary Susan Cusack was organising her first show.

“I was very nervous that something would go wrong, but thankfully the club really pulled together and we had a fantastic team of workers,” remarked Susan. “There was a great atmosphere and it was an exciting end to the league as some of the top riders were neck and neck on the day.”

Maguire and Mane Attraction recorded the only double clear over the course built built by club chairman Frank Glynn, winning the league by a five-point margin.

Maguire, a secondary school teacher in Trim, bought Mane Attraction five years ago and qualified her for the amateur championships at the RDS in 2012. However the 11-year-old Finns Clover Inn bay spent most of last year out through injury.

“Doing so well in the NER league is a sign that she’s back to her old self, so it means a lot. It’s also my first season at open grade so I’m delighted. My plan for the year is to compete as much as possible in both riding club and ShowjumpingIreland competitions and, fingers crossed, get to the RDS,” said Maguire.

Jacqui Boland and Maverick Na Ri won the advanced intermediate league by nine points as she notched up her fourth win of the series with Maverick Na Ri.

Hoping to do some amateur jumping with the eight-year-old skewbald gelding, the Dorsey member is trying get his breeding officially identified and registered. “He’s out of a mare by The Traveller and is said to be by a son of Cavalier Royale,” said Boland, who works with horses in the Tara area.

Although 11 combinations competed throughout the league in Inter B, Cheval’s Rachael Switzer was the only one with a qualifying score, having attended three qualifiers and the final. She claimed her title in style with her third series win on the 10-year-old bay gelding, Cobey Step.

Switzer’s Cheval clubmate Nuala Stafford, a financial analyst from Stackallen, Co Meath, also did the double at intermediate level with the Connemara mare Mistify Me. The 11-year-old grey by Ashfield Festy is owned by Bagenalstown’s Emma Kelly, a member of the Thomastown and District club.

“I’ve owned and enjoyed many horses over the years but have never teamed up with a horse so easily,” said Stafford. “Last year, we posted some very good results at the Equipet qualifiers in Cavan, Crossmaglen, Broadmeadow and Killossery and placed second in the league. We were second in the North East Region qualifier for the Horseware team show jumping championships at the RDS and I’m looking to improve on that.”

Her next target is the Connemara performance league qualifier for Cavan in Castle Hill and the dressage league at Cheval’s grounds at Jordanstown, Oldtown.

Castle Leslie’s Evanne McKenna was one of four advanced primary riders to compete at each leg of the series. She and her 11-year-old grey mare Bella Rosi had an early win at Kernans and were almost always in the placings thereafter, helping them to win the league by six points.

On Sunday, the combination finished third behind Cheval’s Debbie Larkin and Broomfield Queen, an eight-year-old by Shannondale Sarco St Ghyvan, and the league runner-up, Mullaghmore’s Marese McCarra and Cecil.

Castle Hill’s Petrina Reilly recorded a runaway success in the Inter A league with her seven-year-old roan gelding Fiddlewood Mr Buddy. Her win on Sunday was her third of the series, while she also placed second twice.

Reilly is an animal science lecturer in the Drogheda Institute of Further Education, where one of her students is Cheval’s Claudine Kerr. Kerr finished second in the league with her 15-year-old roan mare Miss Tequila.

Going into Sunday’s final, three riders were vying for the primary league title. This went to Castle Leslie’s Jane Leighton and her nine-year-old piebald mare Milfords Lady, who picked up eight points for her win.

Her main league rivals, Castle Hill’s Alison Molloy and Barbara Harford, finished fourth and fifth on the day. Molloy went clear with Connemara Hilltop Festy, while Harford had a fence down with Nadezhda.