“WE didn’t come to take part, we came to take over and that is what we did,” said team Ireland chef d’equipe Michael Blake after his team won the three-star Nations Cup in Drammen, Norway, on Sunday.

Just the second European Nations Cup since sport resumed following the Covid-19 lockdown, the team was a mix of experience and youngsters with Shane Breen being joined by three riders under the age of 25 – Eoin McMahon, Jason Foley and Michael G. Duffy – with each rider producing at least one clear round.