Ireland have won the gold medal at the European Championships in Gothenburg this evening.
The Irish team of Shane Sweetnam, Cian O'Connor, Denis Lynch and Bertram Allen even the latter was forced to retire following a fall on his horse Hector van d’Abdijhoeve in the second round.
Beginning the evening in third place, the three remaining Irish riders delivered flawless performances to take gold for Ireland.
Shane Sweetnam aboard Chaqui Z was the first to go all clear this evening around an extremely difficult course.
Next up was Denis Lynch who went clear aboard All Star 5.
**BREAKING NEWS** - Ireland have won the GOLD MEDAL at the Longines FEI European Championships Gothenburg 2017 #FEIEuros2017 @RTEsport pic.twitter.com/uI7ocQfbAH
— Team IRL Equestrian (@TeamIRLEq) August 25, 2017
Ireland were in the silver medal position behind the Swedes coming to the final ride which was Cian O'Connor aboard 'Good Luck'.
He could afford one fence down but finished with a flourish, riding a clear round to give the Irish team a stunning victory.
The Swedes were pushed into silver, while the Swiss took bronze.
GOLD!!!!! @Cian_O_Connor has done it for @TeamIRLEq!! Wooohoooo 🙌👏👏🥇🥇#FEIEuros2017 pic.twitter.com/O4Yzo0VOjH
— The FEI (@FEI_Global) August 25, 2017
It is Ireland's second ever gold medal at the European Championships. Their last win came in the Netherlands in 2001 when the quartet of Kevin Babington, Jessica Kurton, Peter Charles and Dermot Lennon took victory.
"Our three stallions are all very brave and scopey, and the lights nearly helped them," O'Connor said afterwards.
"We were quietly confident that we could do the business, and obviously Shane had a really tough job going first… I was outside warming up when Denis jumped clear and I thought, 'I have to match that now!'
"I don’t even remember the round, it was all kind of a blur. But I do remember going through the finish!"
Delighted Irish team manager Rodrigo Pessoa added: "We had this goal since the beginning of the year and our road was a little bit bumpy.
"We had some things that happened during the year and this week too, but we stuck together, we said we win together or we lose together and they showed a lot of determination and strength today, and I’m really proud of them for sure."
