The Irish show jumping team were crowned four-star Nations Cup champions after a commanding performance on Sunday morning at the Winter Equestrian Festival in Florida.
Michael Blake's team were in the lead at the halfway stage on a zero score following clear rounds from Darragh Kenny with Eddy Blue, David O'Brien with El Balou OLD and Cian O'Connor with Fancy De Kergane, while Shane Sweetnam was the discard score with four faults aboard RR Combella.
The second round saw Kenny and Sweetnam pick up four faults apiece, while O'Brien added just two time penalties.
That left Ireland as clear winners on a final score of 10 faults without the need for O'Connor to jump in the second round.
"I'm delighted with the boys - that was a fantastic performance," High Performance Director Blake said.
"We really set ourselves up early on with clear rounds from Darragh and David - we weren’t for catching from then on.
"I like to give opportunities and this was a well-deserved call-up for David. He proved me right by jumping two excellent rounds on his first senior Nations Cup in the green jacket.
"We got off to the right start and the lads are so professional that they managed the lead very well - it sets us up now for the five-star Longines League of Nations second leg in Ocala in a few weeks."
Canada finished as runners-up on 20 faults with USA taking third place on the podium with 24 faults.
