Ireland finished outside the medals in the showjumping at the Paris Olympics – despite a faultless display by Daniel Coyle.
The Derryman, on Legacy, jumped clear for Ireland in qualifying and the pair produced another scintillating effort, coming home error-free and within the time limit to move Ireland to within touching distance of leaders Great Britain, in fourth place at that point.
“Unbelievable – absolutely incredible,” he said.
“To jump double clear at the Olympics is just a dream come true. She was a little more tired in there today – as was I – there hasn’t been much sleeping done over the last day or two and I’ll be glad of the couple of days break now before the individual on Monday.”
Ultimately, his effort wasn’t good enough but Ireland’s seventh place equalled their best placing in the team event at the Olympics.
Gold medallists, Great Britain, were supreme, their riders – Harry Charles, Ben Maher and Scott Brash, recorded clean rounds in the Chateau de Versailles.
Maher won individual gold in Tokyo three years ago, while both he and Brash were members of the team that secured gold in 2012. It is a first Olympic medal for Charles, whose father Peter was also in the London squad.
Britain led all the way through the competition to see off silver medallists the USA, with France third after Julien Epaillard had one fence down in the final round.
Ireland finished with a total of 14 faults, with team anchor Cian O’Connor having a disappointing round, picking up nine faults.
The four-time Olympian on Maurice knocked a pole at the combination and then again at the second, which dropped the team to seventh. He needed a clear round to put Ireland within sight of a medal.
“It’s a tough day,” said O’Connor. “We’re at the pinnacle of our sport and it shows the fine lines at this level. We had good plans, but it’s a big arena with very unique fences – my lad has been jumping great all year and today just wasn’t his day.
Shane Sweetnam, on board James Kann Cruz, was the first Irish rider in action. He looked to have safely navigated the course before the top bar at the last dropped and he finished in a time of 79.81, which meant he picked up a time penalty for an overall score of five faults.