Darragh Kenny insists there is no reason why Ireland can't be among the medals in next year's Olympic Games after securing their passage to Tokyo in Barcelona.
Rodrigo Pessoa’s team of Kenny, Peter Moloney, Cian O’Connor and Paul O’Shea were in the last-chance saloon at the weekend and duly qualified an Irish showjumping team for the first time since Athens 2004.
While the quartet won’t necessarily represent Ireland in Japan in 2020 – the make-up of the team will be decided by Pessoa closer to the event – the show jumper ranked ninth in the world told 2fm’s Game On that any Irish team will travel with the intention of being on the podium.
"Absolutely not," he replied when asked if a medal might be beyond Irish ambitions. "We could definitely win a medal next year, and all of us feel we should win a medal.
"We have great horsepower, owners, supporters and riders at the moment. There is no reason why we can't win a medal, we must just keep it all together. We are all at a place where we do want to win Olympic medals."
It wasn't an option for us not to qualify
After failure to secure automatic qualification in Rotterdam, the Offaly native admitted that the team travelled to Spain with plenty to prove.
"When we left Rotterdam we are all a bit disappointed with the way it weren’t, not achieving what our goal was. Going to Barcelona we all felt the horses were in a good place and we were riding well.
"It wasn’t an option for us not to qualify. It was disappointing not to do it in Rotterdam, but we sat down at the start of the week and said we had to get it done."
While it has been a hectic schedule of late, Kenny is hopeful that the less demands on the horses later in the year will reap rewards for the team next season with the Olympic Games on the horizon.
"So far we all [Irish riders] look like we have a good few horses. It’s about having the right horse and having them fresh and ready for that time of year.
"The most important thing is that my horses, at the end of the year, get a bit of down time and start again in March and hopefully be ready to do big things next year."
