AS this page went to press on Friday morning, the Irish youth teams were in touching distance of medals after the first two days of competition at the FEI Youth Show Jumping European Championships in Gorla Minore, Italy.

On Wednesday, the Children on Horses and Young Riders were in action, and both finished the afternoon with four clear rounds, leaving them poised to make a run at medals this weekend.

The Children on Horses were first up, and Cian McMunn set the tone early. Instructed to jump clear, McMunn did just that in a time of 80.95 seconds on board Limited Edition before Lily Tunney had an unfortunate round with her horse Caravago getting spooked at a fence.

Ruby Lily Gaines got the team back on track next with an excellent clear round on the Irish Sport Horse Castle Lux Clover (Boherdeal Clover x Lux Z) in a time of 76.93 seconds to leave her in 11th place.

Harry Rush was fourth in for Ireland with Tabby (ISH) and he put in the performance of his life – going clear in a time of 75.93 seconds to finish the class in fourth place overall. Alice Moloney anchored the team on board Cosima and she too was foot-perfect to round off the performance with a clear round in 78.70 seconds and 15th place.

A delighted team manager, James Kernan, said: “I couldn’t be happier, it was a brilliant day but we’ve obviously won nothing yet. But obviously with both teams on scores of zero it’s where we want to be for now and I’m looking forward to the Juniors tomorrow.

“Cian did exactly what was asked of him – we wanted a clear round to get the ball rolling and he delivered. Lily was very unfortunate and it had the potential to upset the applecart but the team has character and Ruby Lily was fabulous, before Harry came in and jumped the most incredible round.

“He finished fourth in the class and he will jump in the individual now for the rest of the week. I’m so proud of him, he contributed to getting the team into position now and he has done Ireland so proud.”

Ultimately, in Friday morning’s team final, the team fell behind with some faults across the board to finish in eighth place in the team competition. The gold medal went to Germany, ahead of France and Britain.

Young Riders

The Young Rider team of Max Wachman (Quintini), Ciaran Nallon (Fifty Shades of Grey), Rhys Williams (Playboy JT Z), Niamh McEvoy (Templepatrick Welcome Limmerick) and Seamus Hughes Kennedy (ESI Rocky), were in the gold medal position going into Friday afternoon’s team final.

On the opening day, Williams finished the class in second place, ahead of McEvoy in fifth and Wachman in 11th. A second clear on Thursday sees Williams hold the individual lead, with McEvoy jumping up to second place and Hughes Kennedy into fifth. Ireland finished the day on 2.5, comfortably clear of Great Britain in second on 10.41 with Belgium in third on a score of 11.09.

“What a day,” commented Kernan. “We’ve spoken throughout about focus and I know people are getting excited now but these teams are just so professional. To do what they did out there today under the pressure of leading was just incredible. We need to remain focused on what’s in front of us and put in one big round each and hopefully that will bring home what we came for.”

Juniors

On the second day of competition, the junior team of Coen Williams, James, Eoin and Timmy Brennan and Tom Wachman all contributed to a superb outing for the team – with Williams winning the class to fill him with confidence for the rest of the week.

He was foot-perfect on board the 10-year-old Conthanja, jumping clear in a time of 71.09 seconds to see off Portugal’s Madelana Eloy in second, with Swiss rider Lou Puch in third.

Timmy and Eoin Brennan were both quick around the course despite having four jumping faults each and they finished the class in 15th and 18th respectively with Diadema Della Caccia and Eskolam M, with Wachman also jumping clear on board Cathalina to finish in 23rd place.

James Brennan had a pole down but came home in a fast time and he finished the class in 27th place on board Irish Sport Horse MHS I’m The One.

Kernan heaped praise on Williams and the team after what was another encouraging class for the Irish, saying: “The Juniors were fantastic today – they’re well up there, there’s nothing in it at the top. Coen was brilliant – he was late to go so he had a good starting order and he went in and rode a fantastic round.

The team also head into the final round in gold medal position after adding nothing on Thursday. Sunday could be a historic day the Williams family, with both Rhys and Coen on the cusp of individual gold medals.

Source: Horse Sport Ireland. Reports from Gorla Minore in next week’s paper.