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Young
Irish Team Second At Zagreb Nations Cup
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WITH
echoes of the glorious 99/2000 season, a young and inexperienced
Irish Nations Cup slotted into second place at the Zagreb Nations
Cup in Croatia today (Friday).
Only
one member of the squad (Michael Kerins) had ever competed at senior
Nations Cup level before, and that only weeks before, yet the Irish
ran riot through the competition, missing sharing the top spot by
just one fence.
Twenty-one
year old Ryan Crumley from Derry, riding the 10 yr old stallion
<Baltimore> racked up an impressive double clear round, while
Dave Quigley and Paul O'Shea took four faults apiece in the first
round, with O'Shea just having a foot in the water jump, but both
had clears second time out. Michael Kerins was less fortunate, having
been eliminated when he failed to hear the bell in the first round,
and was not required to jump in the second round, to give Ireland
a total of just eight faults overall.
Pitted
against top flight international teams, the Irish were essentially
a development squad, sent to Zagreb by the SJAI selectors mainly
for Samsung Nations Cup experience, but, as in the 99/2000 season,
emulated the likes of Dermott Lennon, Billy Twomey, Cian O'Connor
and Lt. Shane Carey by showing that youth was not necessarily a
hindrance at this elite level of jumping. (Tellingly, two of O'Connor's
riders, Paul O'Shea and Ryan Crumley, were on the squad at Zagreb
today.)
Afterwards,
Irish Chef d'Equipe Lt. Col. Gerry Mullins said: <<This was
a very impressive performance by a young team brought here to give
them experience for the future. The selectors have given six new
caps to young Irish riders over the last number of weeks, and the
excellence of people like Ryan Crumley, who jumped a double clear
in his first ever senior Nations Cup, is an indicator of the latent
talent we have available for the teams of tomorrow.
He
went on: <<Michael Kerins was very unfortunate in his elimination,
as there was a mix-up over the bell, which could not be heard by
the competitors or the chefs d'equipe over the background music.
But to give an indication of the standard here today, the senior
Swiss rider, Beat Mandli, was eliminated in the second round after
three refusals at the first fence. So I think we did incredibly
well.>>
Nine
teams in all competed, though some did not make it to the second
round of the Nations Cup.
SHOW
JUMPING RESULTS: CSIO**** ZAGREB 25 - 28 SEPTEMBER 2003
SAMSUNG
NATIONS CUP OF ZAGREB
Friday, September 26, 2003
1)
AUSTRIA 4 Faults
2) IRELAND 8 Faults
Baltimore; Ryan Crumley 0/0
Ashdale Spirit; Dave Quigley 4/0
Mahon Point; Paul O'Shea 4/0
Polanski; Michael Kerins E/-
3) ITALY 21 Faults
=4) GERMANY 29 Faults
=4) SLOVAKIA 29 Faults
6) POLAND 31 Faults
7) SLOVENIA 45 Faults
http://www.horsesport.ie
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