Seamus Hughes Kennedy and Darragh Kenny finish well at European Show Jumping Championships
Both elicited foot-perfect rounds from ESI Rocky (ISH) and Eddy Blue to record outstanding finishes from a field of 89 that started out on Wednesday.
Kilkenny youngster Hughes Kennedy and the ten-year-old bred by his uncles Andrew and Niall, did not have a jumping error in five rounds in Spain and while one time fault left the 22-year-old frustrated, in the end, it only cost him fourth rather than a medal.
He had started the day in seventh, so his tally of one fault from his fourth and fifth rounds brought him up two places with a paltry 3.16 faults.
Kenny recorded a brilliant double clear on Carol Sollak's Eddy Blue, who was very unfortunate to knock his only fence all week, when having a stumble in Wednesday's speed and handiness class won by Daniel Coyle and Legacy.
Victory went to Richard Vogel (GER) with United Touch S on a staggering 0.01 faults, accumulated by virtue of finishing three-hundredths of a second off Coyle and Legacy.
Britain's Scott Brash took silver with Hello Folie (1.08) while Gilles Thomas, a star of Belgium's gold medal winning performance in the team event, completed the podium with Ermitage Kalone (1.37).
The Irish pair were central cogs as Michael Blake's unit finished fourth in the team event, ahead of 18 nations, and they continued to shine in the white heat of elite competition.
Making his senior championship debut, Hughes Kennedy was over the moon, although there was a hint of what might have been, having finished so close to medalling in both the team and medal competitions.
"I'm delighted with the result in the finish," said Hughes Kennedy.
"Pity not to get a medal in the end after doing the full week without knocking a jump but the plan the first day, everything came off exactly the way we wanted and in the end that wasn't quite enough to win a medal. We were expecting a few more people to have a mistake here or there.
"I was delighted with the way the horse jumped, delighted with the opportunity to be able to come out here that Michael Blake has given us to come and be on the team.
"It was unfortunate to just miss out on a medal for the teams and to also just miss out on a medal in the individual result as well but we couldn't ask for anymore. The horse jumped brilliant, it was a great championship, especially our first senior championship.
"It was a long week and everything went according to plan and to be fifth in the end was a great result and I look forward to the future with such a special horse."
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