Kate Kerr-Horan and Jessica McKenna finished ninth and tenth respectively in the Grade III individual equestrian event at the Paralympic Games in Paris.
It was a disappointing end to the event for both riders, who narrowly missed out on qualifying for the freestyle event with the top eight progressing.
Kerr-Horan was first up of the Irish duo, hoping to improve on her 18th-place finish at the Tokyo Games.
She achieved that goal and her score of 65.867 was enough to put her in fifth place initially but as more riders completed their runs she slipped down the standings.
McKenna, making her Paralympic debut, proceeded through her routine smoothly and finished strongly, eventually claiming a score of 65.033 that saw her place just below Kerr-Horan in the standings.
As the event progressed, McKenna was pushed out of the top eight but it wasn't until the final rider completed her run that Kerr-Horan slipped out of the freestyle qualification places.
Rebecca Hart of the USA claimed gold with her score of 77.900, with the Netherlands' Rixt van der Horst taking silver and Great Britain's Nathasha Baker in third.
Ireland's Michael Murphy suffered a similar fate in the Individual Event - Grade 1.
Report from Versailles as Kate Kerr-Horan, Jessica McKenna and Michael Murphy narrowly missed out on the finals in the dressage competition@TeamIreland #RTEparalympics #paris2024 pic.twitter.com/qWUXZSY0D0
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) September 3, 2024
About his horse Cleverboy, Murphy posted an impressive score of 70.417, which represented a major improvement on his performance at the Tokyo games.
Murphy, initially sat in fourth place and looked good for a place inside the top eight. However with eight competitors left to go, he gradually slipped down the standings until Singapore's Laurentia Tan, who was the second last rider to go, posted a score of 72.0 which pushed the Irishman down to ninth.
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