THE Irish show jumping team have scraped into tomorrow (Friday) night’s final at the FEI World Championships after a tense day in Aachen, Germany.

While Ireland only knocked two rails in the second team qualifier, the teams are so tightly bunched at the top of the leaderboard that qualification for the final looked in doubt at the half way stage.

Darragh Kenny and Eddy Blue jumped a superb round when first out before getting the distance to the last fence too quick and knocking it for a most unlucky four faults. Bertram Allen then hit the first fence in an otherwise brilliant round with Qonquest De Rigo. Those penalties saw Ireland drop to 15th on the leaderboard with only the top 10 going through to the final.

When a crucial clear was needed, third to go Cian O’Connor delivered with Chatolinue PS and when competing teams started to fault, Ireland moved back up to 10th place.

The pressure was then heaped on Shane Sweetnam and the Irish Sport Horse James Kann Cruz to bring it home for Ireland. They duly delivered to see the team finish on a score of 11.69 in 10th place. Sweetnam is best of the Irish in 14th place individually.

Speaking to the media after his round, O’Connor said: “Chatolinue jumped so well. It is so tight with the teams so close together. More and more at these championships you see the first day playing a bigger role. I’m not sure if that is good or bad. It depends what kind of horsepower you have and the Irish have a lot of scope and a lot of power so it's hard for those horses to claw back.

“I thought Darragh's horse jumped really well. Bertram's guy was super again just to touch off the first, so pressure was on, and we fought hard. Chatolinue tried his heart out.”

O’Connor added: “Yesterday I had a go against the clock and it didn't pay off with two down. I was a bit upset with myself for that but I felt it was going to be so tight and there was no point in going for a slow clear.”

Tomorrow’s final will see the team medals decided and the top seven teams (excluding the hosts USA) will secure qualification for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games. The home nation of Germany lead the way on 3.48 after four exceptional clear rounds from Marcus Ehning, Sophie Hinners, Daniel Deusser and Richard Vogel. They are just ahead of USA on 4.85 while Belgium currently hold the bronze medal position on 7.69.

Britain's Scott Brash, aboard Hello Mango, moved into first place after another classy clear round to remain on 0.80 penalties. Germany's Sophie Hinners sits second with Iron Dames Singclair on 0.84, while Steve Guerdat (SUI), riding Dynamix de Belheme, and Daniel Deusser (GER), aboard Otello de Guldenboom, share third on 0.86.

Tomorrow's final starts at 5.50pm (Irish time) and is being broadcast on RTÉ Player as well as Clip My Horse (subscription).

Full team standings.