Co. Tipperary World Equestrian Eventing silver medallist is honoured with civic reception

World equestrian eventing silver medallist and Tokyo Olympics hopeful Padraig McCarthy  was accorded Carrick-on-Suir Municipal District's highest honour - a civic reception  last Friday night.  

The reception, the first major civic event to be staged at the newly refurbished and extended Carrick-on-Suir Town Hall, recognised the Grangemockler man's  achievements at the FEI World Equestrian Games in North Carolina in the US last September. 

Padraig McCarthy was a member of the Irish Eventing team that won the team silver medal at the Games and he won an individual silver medal after a particularly impressive performance in the showjumping competition. 

The civic reception was attended by around 40 of Padraig McCarthy's family, friends and equestrian sports colleagues. Among them were his proud parents Theresa and Tom, who was Grangemockler's local garda for many years; his sister Yvonne and her family.   

Carrick Municipal District chairperson Cllr Louise McLoughlin said she was extremely honoured to propose the motion according the civic reception and described Padraig's double silver medal win at the world games as a "magnificent achievement" from someone who only started eventing in recent years. 

She traced his involvement in equestrian sport since the 1990s and how he originally competed in showumping and moved to eventing six years ago. She recounted his first class honours degree success in economics, finance and German and Phd studies and how he turned down the opportunity of an academic career to pursue his passion for horses.  

In 2013, she said, he began producing, selling and eventing horses at Warren Farm in Devon in England. He quickly rose through the ranks to a place on the Irish eventing team in 2015 and competed at the 2016 Rio Olympics. 

"For someone who is not from a traditional so called 'horsey family' and whose first introduction to horses cames at 11 years of age when his sister got her first pony, it just shows what can be achieved when you put your mind to it. Padraig you are a role model to anyone thinking of getting involved with horses," she added. 

Fellow councillors Kevin O'Meara and Imelda Goldsboro joined Cllr McLoughlin in congratulating him on his success and wished him success in the future. Cllr Goldsboro said Padraig was the hero of Grangemockler and also their hero and inspiration to others. 

Horse Sport Ireland Chairman Joe Reynolds said the World Equestrian Games was quite intense and it was an under estimation to say the eventing team were cool under pressure. There could be no better role models than Padraig and the Irish team.

 "They can now hold their own in any event. They are at the top of their game and they were the first (Irish) team to qualify for Tokyo from any discipline or sport. It's a great achievement." 

 Irish Eventing Team performance manager Sally Corscadden, who also attended the reception with Horse Sport Ireland CEO Ronan Murphy, said Padraig had been fantastic to work with from the moment she became team manager and winning the individual silver medal was the "icing on the cake" of the team's success at the World Equestrian Games.

 "His focus and attention to detail in preparation for the World Games was second to none," she said. She highlighted how Padraig had just completed two days of training in Ireland and two more in the UK, only getting home to his stables at 11pm at night. If a rider was prepared to put in that hard work, she was prepared to back them and she was looking forward to being with him in Tokyo. 

Padraig's uncle Stephen McCarthy said the civic reception was a huge night for the McCarthy family and described Padraig as a person of integrity and praised his lack of ego and ordinariness and how he had followed his dream. 

McCarthy family friend, Fr Michael Kennedy, who was based in Grangemockler when Padraig was young, said it was a wonderful occasion to welcome back a hero from the locality and paid tribute to him for the countless hours of hard work he put in to reach the top of his sport. 

He said he knew Padraig since he was 12 years old and it was marvellous to watch him working with ponies when he was young. "It was like there was a language between himself and the ponies. It was just incredible," he recalled.

Cllr McLoughlin presented Padraig McCarthy with a framed scroll to mark the civic reception and also a painting of Slievenamon by artist Raymond Osborne.

Check out more photos from the civic reception in this week’s printed edition of The Nationalist.