Irelands youth show jumpers enjoyed another fantastic weekend, adding to the spectacular success of the summer, with a Junior team silver medal in the Nations Cup Series final in Lier, Belgium as well as magnificent individual class wins for European Champion Emily Moloney, and Ted Fagan in Ponies. The Junior team of Moloney, Abbie Oakey, Annie Boland, James Derwin and Isabel OBrien and were beaten in what was a hugely competitive competition, finishing on a perfect zero score over three faultless rounds of jumping, alongside Sweden.The two nations could not be separated and the Irish stars were only just pipped by the Swedes in a team jump-off, with USA in third and a host of the worlds top nations in behind.HSI Youth Show Jumping High Performance Manager Denis Flannelly said: I am immensely proud of this team there wasnt much 2025 championship experience in this team so to perform like that under pressure was incredible. The four legs of the youth Nations Cup series that we attended earlier in the season in Sentower (BEL) Compiegne (FRA), Zuiwolde (NED) and Hagen (GER) and performed so well in, qualified us for this final.We reached the podium in all four, winning twice, finishing second in one and third in another.Flannelly felt strongly about giving more athlete/horse combinations the opportunity to gain valuable experience, and to help widen and strengthen Irelands base of combinations in contention for European selection.He added: Myself and the selection panel made a conscious decision that our main target this year would be the European Championships. Quite often, if you try to win everything, you dont win the ones you want to. We ended up with a very strong panel of riders but, unfortunately, we could only bring five to Riesenbeck.Those five were successful in bringing home team gold at the championships and the ones who just missed out were given the opportunity to attend the final of the Nations Cup here in Lier.Apart from Emily, who won team and individual gold at the Europeans and, on this occasion, brought a younger horse to develop ahead of 2026, there was no Junior European Championship riders on the squad.Abbie, who jumped clear every day, and Annie, were both on the fringe of selection for the Europeans in Riesenbeck, were extended the opportunity to join this squad.Alongside James Derwin and Isabel OBrien, they performed formidably all week and showed how bright a future they all have.For me, this championship was all about development for 2026 and to share the podium with Sweden, who we fought in a jump-off, and beat USA, out of 12 teams that competed is an incredible success.Id like to extend my gratitude to Liz Brennan who assists me in running this Youth High Performance Programme, to Sally Anne Tobin, who chairs the selection panel, to Denis Lynch, my co-selector and to all the team at Horse Sport Ireland, whose support is so necessary to make days like this happen, and a season like this come to fruition.Id also wish to extend thanks to all those who sent messages of congratulations we have been inundated here in Lier with messages of support and congratulations all week.Finally, Id like to thank the athletes, their families, their teams around them and not forgetting their wonderful horses.The team spirit in the camp being so positive is never to be underestimated when you attend a championship like this. One for all and all for one!The post Nations Cup final silver the icing on the cake for Flannelly and youth jumpers appeared first on .