Irish dominance of the Samsung Nations Cup league continued yesterday when third place in the German round at Aachen pushed Ireland even further ahead of her rivals in the series. Ireland now tops the points table by a distance, with a tally of 60 putting the Irish 17.5 clear of closest rivals France.
Facing top-class company, Ireland's quartet of Harry Marshall, newcomer Kevin Babington, Edward Doyle and Jessica Kurten completed yesterday's gruelling two-rounder with eight faults to slot into third behind Britain, on a clean sheet, and the Germans, just one fence off the pace.
Marshall had opened the batting for Ireland, but his mare Cruiseline spooked at the water ditch and finished an unhappy round with the discard score of 16 faults. But Nations Cup debutant Babington, and Edward Doyle, on his first visit to Aachen, added only single errors and Jessica Kurten's clear kept Ireland in the hunt.
Marshall, also on his first appearance in the huge Aachen arena, erased all memories of his opening round with a brilliant clear at the second attempt, and, when both US-based Babington and Doyle did the same, team manager Eddie Macken didn't need to call out Kurten again.
"It was a fantastic result for the team that we had here," a thrilled Macken said. "They were all stars."
The British team of Michael and John Whitaker, Carl Edwards and Andrew Davies - all shortlisted for the Sydney Olympics - were clear in the first round, and only Davies faulted in the second for an impressive zero-tally win, with the Germans finishing on four faults for the runner-up slot.
Amazingly, this was Britain's first Nations Cup success of the season, which compares less than favourably with Ireland's tally of five consecutive wins. In fact, the Irish run of victories started in Athens at the beginning of October - well before the Modena, Helsinki, Drammen, Falsterbo and Lummen triumphs - for six Irish wins in the current series.
The resulting 60 points not only puts Ireland well clear in the league, but also guarantees a slot at the series final in Rome in mid-October, with the Nations Cups at Hickstead, Dublin, Rotterdam and Calgary still to be decided in the interim.
