Fourth for Ireland in Longines League of Nations final

The Underwriting Exchange Irish Show Jumping Team finished fourth in the final of the inaugural Longines League of Nations in Barcelona this afternoon.   Michael Blake’s team of Denis Lynch, Daniel Coyle, Mikey Pender and Cian O’Connor scored a total of 20 faults, leaving them behind winners Germany on 12, The Netherlands on 16 and Sweden also on 20 faults.   It was the culmination of an excellent campaign in which Ireland topped the league table, and Blake was ultimately satisfied with the competition as a whole, while let feeling that the final was one that got away from his team.   He said: “Not to be today, we had some bad luck at critical times and made some unforced errors, which just left us with that little bit too much to do. “Credit to the lads, though, they really dug in and never stopped trying to the end and […]