Wexford success at All Ireland Interschools Showjumping
WEXFORD was well represented at CoilÓg Equestrian Centre in Kildare recently, as the finals of the All-Ireland Equestrian Interschools Showjumping League took centre stage.
Flying the purple and gold in the secondary schools category were teams from St Mary’s New Ross, Loreto Wexford and St Peter’s College, all of whom were hopeful of taking home silverware after a hotly contested league.
Open Category:
St Mary’s New Ross were victorious in the Open Category after a great jump off against the clock to finish 3rd on the day to win the overall League. The team on the day was Ciara Sinnott, Martha Power, Katie Costello and Ava Donovan.
The Loreto Wexford Open Team of Kate Walsh, Jess Murphy, Caoimhe Murphy and Ashley Durack went into the final in 5th place with the St Peter’s Wexford team represented by Tommy Codd, Joe Codd, Jack Jones, and Dylan Barrett, in 6th and Ballymahon, Co Longford in 7 th.
They had to finish at least 5th in the league to qualify for the Balmoral Show in May. They put on an amazing performance and qualified for the jump off, however Ballymahon achieved what was thought to be the impossible and pulled off second place catapulting them into 4th and knocking Loreto into 6th.
There was some consolation for St Peter’s who were awarded best turned out on the day.
St Mary’s New Ross now go on to the Balmoral Show which is a super achievement after a successful league.
Ciara Crowther had a great performance in the 1.10 Individual finishing 4th place.
The Novice Team had to finish at least 3rd on the day to retain the title they won last year, and it turned out to be a nail biting final with 10 teams in the jump off to determine the placings on the day.
Loreto Wexford had two teams in contention. Loreto Brown was represented by Aoife Griffith, Kate Jones, Amy Griffith and Isabell Walsh placing 5th on the day and Loreto Yellow of Anna Radford, Sarah Cousins, Aoife Crean and Faye Howlin picking up third place on the day to make Loreto Wexford, All Ireland Interschool League Champions for the 2nd year in a row .
Wexford schools also performed well in the primary schools section. Screen NS took first place in the teams, while Shannon Griffin from Screen NS was the winner of the 75cm Individual League and her schoolmate Hannah Kavanagh won the 55cm Individual League.
Winner of the 75cm Class on the day was Hazel Slattery (Kilrane N.S) Caitlin Griffith was 4th in the 75cm Class on the day with Mary Kate Kelly 5th in the 55cm Primary class on the day (both Screen N.S).
Ruby Cousins was placed 3rd in the 75cm Primary Individual League from Kilmore N.S. and Jack Codd took 4th in the 80cm Class on the day (Murrintown N.S).