Having delighted the home supporters by leading at halfway, the Irish riders let go their grip in the second round and Mexico took full advantage.

“We couldn’t keep the momentum of the first round going,” Irish team manager Rodrigo Pessoa told the Irish Examiner afterwards.

“It’s disappointing because we were very close but not close enough.” he said.

His team were in it right up to the end and it came down to a last rider shoot-out between four countries with France and Italy vying with the Irish and Mexicans for that crucial last round clear.

Enrique Gonzales delivered for the winners on Chacna, and as France and Italy let their chance slip it left Ireland’s Cameron Hanley and Quirex as the only pairing that could stand in their way. Despite the pressure the Mayo rider looked to be on course to force a jump-off but his quest ended when a pole dropped at the second part of the tough Longines treble, leaving the Irish tied with the French and Italians as Mexican joy erupted.

“The Mexicans rallied really hard,” Pessoa said.

“They had two rails behind us in the first round and they came in the second round and got the job done.”

It was a wonderful comeback performance by the victors which included three clear rounds to keep them on their halfway score of eight. Their standout performer was third rider Patricio Pasquel who scored a double-clear on Babel.

By contrast Ireland had the best performance of the first half, coming in with zero faults after clears by Shane Sweetman (Main Road), Mark McAuley (Utchan De Belheme) and Hanley. Sweetnam had one down second time out but things got more ominous for Ireland when McAuley was eliminated second time-out after his horse put in stops at two fences.

Paul O’Shea and Skara Glen’s Machu Picchu had a chance to put Ireland back in the lead but one down meant they had to go into the final-rider showdown level.

Last year’s winners USA took fifth with Great Britain in sixth, while it was a tough day at the office for the Dutch and Swiss teams who finished seventh and eighth respectively.

The result means Ireland finish second overall in the European division of the nations cup league.

Earlier yesterday at the RDS in the second round of the the Link Insurance class for 7/8 year-old horses Ireland’s Darragh Kenny (Billy Dorito) and Daniel Coyle (Legacy) were separated by just one-hundredth of a second for the runner-up and third positions respectively but it was Britain’s Amanda Derbyshire who claimed the contest on Celina BH with the fasted jump-off clear by half of a second.