Irish Eventing Silver Medal winning team receive heroes welcome at Dublin Airport while Show Jumpers begin their quest for glory today at World Equestrian Games

Despite the fact that their early-morning flight from the USA touched down in Dublin Airport just after 6.30am this morning (Wednesday), the Silver Medal winning Irish Eventing team received a heroes welcome from a huge group of fans, family members, friends and representatives from Horse Sport Ireland, on their triumphant return from the World Equestrian Games.

The Irish Eventing team are welcomed home by supporters, families and friends at Dublin Airport in Dublin. (Photo: Eóin Noonan/Sportsfile)

Sally Corscadden’s squad of Sam Watson, Cathal Daniels, Sarah Ennis, Padraig McCarthy and Patricia Ryan (reserve & individual), claimed Ireland’s first ever team medal at a World Equestrian Games on Monday in North Carolina, USA, while Tipperary-born McCarthy also took home individual silver.

2018 World Equestrian Games team Eventing Silver medalist Sam Watson with his father John, who won individual silver on Cambridge Blue at the 1978 Eventing World Championships in Kentucky, pictured together during an Irish Eventing Team welcome home at Dublin Airport in Dublin. Photo by Eóin Noonan/Sportsfile

Speaking to RTÉ Sport, Padraig McCarthy was asked how to describe his emotions.

“It’s completely surreal. I’ve dreamed about it, but to actually have two medals around your neck when you come back is something dreams are made of. It’s unbelievable. I’m so grateful to Sally [Corscadden] for putting such a great team around us. We had physios for us and the horses, trainers, vets, the grooms, owners, sponsors…it’s been an unbelievable week. I hope we can put Eventing on the map, get a little bit more funding and keep this team in place going towards Tokyo.”

2018 FEI World Equestrian Games Eventing team and individual silver medalist Padraig McCarthy arrives back home to a heroes welcome at Dublin Airport (Photo by Eóin Noonan/Sportsfile)

Meanwhile the Irish Show Jumping team, sponsored by Devenish and The Underwriting Exchange, get their World Equestrian Games campaign underway this afternoon in North Carolina, hoping to emulate the Irish Eventing team and win a medal – which would also guarantee Olympic qualification for Toyko 2020.
Rodrigo Pessoa’s team have been drawn first to jump of 25 teams in today’s first round of the competition and will line out as follows:

Cork’s Shane Sweetnam with Chaqui Z – owned by Spy Coast Farm LLC
Tipperary’s Shane Breen with Ipswich Van De Wolfsakker – owned by Breen Equestrian, Jos Lansink Horses & Konstantin Pysarenko
Limerick’s Paul O’Shea with Skara Glen’s Machu Picchu – owned by Skara Glen Stables, Whipstick Farm, P. Hurter & P. Agnew
Meath’s Cian O’Connor with Good Luck – owned by Adena Springs & Ronnoco Jump Ltd

Team manager Rodrigo Pessoa is focused on delivering on the target of Olympic qualification and possibly a medal.

“We are here with the clear objective of punching our ticket to Tokyo and the Olympic team qualification which has eluded us for many years. Now that we are European Champions, why not dream big and aim for a medal as well. We are really looking forward to a tough competition but we believe we have a great chance.”

Today’s first competition is a speed class with the fences set at 1m55 and gets underway at 2pm Irish time. This will be followed by the second round on Thursday, after which only the top 10 teams will make it through to Friday’s round to decide the team medals. The top six teams from Friday’s team final will have the added bonus of Olympic qualification.

The top 25 riders will then go forward to Sunday’s individual final, which is set over two rounds at a massive 1m65, following which the new Show Jumping World Champion will be crowned.

Today’s competition will be shown live on FEITV from 2pm, with live coverage of the closing stages on Eurosport from 8pm Irish time.

Equiline – Official athlete clothing supplier of Team Ireland Equestrian

About the FEI World Equestrian Games
The FEI World Equestrian Games™, held every four years in the middle of the Olympic cycle, is one of the biggest events on the golbal sporting calendar, combining eight equestrian World Championship caliber events in a pre-determined location. The FEI disciplines – Jumping, Dressage and Para-Equestrian Dressage, Eventing, Driving, Endurance, Vaulting and Reining – are all included on the competition schedule, while equestrian-focused demonstrations and exhibitions will also be hosted throughout the duration of the event. The 2018 edition of the FEI World Equestrian Games™ is being held in Mill Spring, NC, USA over thirteen days from September 11-23rd, 2018 at Tryon International Equestrian Center.