IRELAND’S SHOW JUMPERS have secured a spot at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics spot.
Darragh Kenny, Peter Moloney, Cian O’Connor and Paul O’Shea qualified the country for the Olympics for the first time since Athens 2004.
The quartet won’t necessarily be travelling to Tokyo themselves, with form closer to the event set to influence coach Rodrigo Pessoa’s decision on which individuals represent Ireland.
There was much pressure going into today’s Longines FEI Nations Cup final in Barcelona.
With just one Olympic place up for grabs, Pessoa’s men overcame competition from Italy and Colombia to earn the coveted spot in Japan.
It follows on from previous qualifications in eventing and dressage, with Ireland now set to compete in all three events at the Olympics for the first time ever.
**BREAKING NEWS** IRELAND WIN LONGINES FEI NATIONS CUP World Final
— Team IRL Equestrian (@TeamIRLEq) October 6, 2019
INCREDIBLE - A clear round from anchor rider Cian O'Connor means Ireland have secured Olympic qualification in style by winning today's €1.25 Million World FINAL#Devenish #TheUnderwritingExchange #Equiline pic.twitter.com/cCrHD8JipW
“We had a very clear objective coming here, to get the ticket [to Tokyo] and the five riders that were here fought really hard,” Pessoa said afterwards.
“It’s a lot of pressure. People don’t really realise the amount of pressure that is on these riders to bring this qualification home.
“The weight of the country is on their shoulders. It was a big ask for them today and to do it the way that they did, hats off to all five of them.”
“This was our goal all year to qualify for the Olympics,” Moloney added. “I am very lucky to have a very good horse in Chianti’s Champion and that makes it a little bit easier.
“We are very fortunate to have great backing from all the guys on the team and from Rodrigo and from Horse Sport Ireland and all the High Performance Committee.”
Murray Kinsella joins Sean Farrell and Gavan Casey from Japan to give his blunt assessment of Ireland’s performance against Russia
Jamie Cudmore up against O’Connell yet again. This one could get spicy.
Culmore isn’t fit to lace O Connells boots.
Cudmore is a thug and O’Connell is a legend of the game. No competition.
I agree Cudmore is a thug. But jesus he put in a shift today. Credit where credit is due and all that…
Cudmore and Lee smashed OConnell &Co backwards all night long.
Cmon the red army.
Best dressing room ever!!
I hope Munster don’t lose.they done enough whinging on here when they won against ulster the other week.imagine the cribs and crystal from them if they lose
Christmas can come early tonight…..Come on Munster!
Jesus Christ munster are brutal
A loss would end Munsters interest? That’s a tad presumptuous, a loss would be a major setback but they’d still have every chance to go through!
Come on Munster!!
Which Clermont will show up??should be a great contest..
Munsters game plan.
Do nothing for ages.
Get into the Clermont half
Drop the ball
Some first half performance from clermont, one of the best I’ve seen from an away side at thomond park.
Well done Clermont. Massive defense. Better team all round. Munster just not at the races today.
Munster tackling isn’t great.
Amazing from Clermont. Convincing winners. Completely deserved that. Their fans were amazing too. #16th man.
Munster need to pull out socks up rapidly. Keep it simple… simple.
Barnes… the rules apply to both teams hy the way
So many knock-on’s at crucial moments, most of them from Cronin.
Not good enough at this level.
Does wayne barnes be watching something entirely different to the rest of us?
thetruth, we’re not blaming the referee this time. He was 80% correct all evening. Munster just did not play the way we hoped they would.
#BringinJOE in for this team talk
Munster half backs are awful today.
They were behind a failing breakdown, so Murray was under enormous pressure all the time, so I wouldn’t blame him too much, but Keatley was pretty poor all round I thought.
Munster are just handing this game to Claremont
Clermont may have the points so far, but watching Munster, I can’t see them losing this. Come on the boys in red.
Wrong Peter.
All smart after the fact, eh, captain hindsight?
Munster made basic errors. Our kicking game was very poor. We butchered three separate mauls by dropping the ball and set piece was hit and miss. Injury meant there weren’t quality bench players to call upon and just beaten at our own game by a superior side.
keatley’s kicks tonight…??!
Media’s darling Conor
Murray’s kicks were even worse. Gerry Thornley won’t be able to do his usual love in if he’s reporting this game.
Clermont were up for this match tonight. Hugely intense & Munster couldn’t deal with it especially up front where Munster planned to dominate.
Some match as intense as a full test match.