Rule over Irish talent
to have a strong team ready to battle for top positions.”
In his role, the 44-year-old will focus on the delivery of the high performance plan 2017/2020 and on performance targets for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games campaign.
He will also take responsibility for planning, monitoring, selection and performance at international level for European, World and Olympic competition.
Ireland has already secured victory in the 2017 FEI Nations Cup series, with the team scoring at Ocala earlier this year under the guidance of team manager Michael Blake. This was in addition to their back-toback wins in Wellington. However, as Ocala was part of the North American League no points were available to the winners, but Ireland will have an opportunity to gain maximum points at six shows included in the Western European equivalent. These include La Baule (May 11-14), Rome (May 24-28), Rotterdam (June 22-25), Falsterbo (July 13-16), Hickstead (July 27-30), and Ireland’s home Nations Cup at the RDS in Dublin on August 9-13, where teams will compete for the Aga Khan trophy.
A Nations Cup show will also take place at St Gallen (June 1-4), with the final to be held in Barcelona in late September.
Ireland finished as runners-up on the 2016 Nations Cup league table to maintain their position for the coming season as one of eight European Division 1 teams, along with Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, France, Italy and newly-promoted Spain.