LAST year Ireland beat the British by just a quarter of a time fault in the race for the Aga Khan Cup. The tables were turned 12 months on and Britain once again will have the option of packing the golden trophy in its luggage after Ireland's half a time fault pinned the defending champions in second yesterday afternoon.
Although there were officially six nations on the start list, there were only ever two in it and the old enemies had the battle lines drawn from the outset. The betting had opened with Ireland as even money favourites, but by flag fall yesterday Britain had eased ahead to start as 5/4 on favourites.
Both teams got off to the best possible start, with Irish path finder Peter Charles and his European championship winner La Ina foot perfect all the way. Britain's number one Nick Skelton mirrored that score on the mare Dollar Girl, in spite of a bad miss at the water, to leave the main adversaries locked in combat at this early stage.
Trevor Coyle and Cruising had controversially remained at home while the rest of the team struggled for a hold on the medals in Atlanta, but the Pavarotti and Wolfsburg Grand Prix winners were keen to return to the fold.
Mary McCann's grey stallion gave the fences plenty of air, in fact probably too much as the clock ticked relentlessly on to leave Coyle with three quarters of a time fault that was instantly pronounced by the ringside experts as a costly mistake.
In fact, it was a smaller fraction that proved more expensive as Coyle's three quarters was the discard score when Capt John Ledingham and Kilbaha came home with just a half and Eddie Macken put in his usual sterling performance for a clear with FAN Schalkhaar. He obviously felt none the worse for his transatlantic flight home from Atlanta.
Ledingam's double Hickstead Derby winner Kilbaha, who will be bidding for the hat trick in eight days' time, had missed the Games due to travel sickness.
Perhaps in deference to that, the Army captain opted for a slightly more leisurely pace than hindsight would have wanted and, with the electronic clock stopped on 91.62 seconds, the optimum 90 was exceeded in the blink of an eye around an unusually twisty Nations Cup track.
It was a mistake Ledingham and his team mates were to rue as Britain pulled ahead at the halfway stage. With three clears, they were able to discard Di Lampard's first round 8.5 to finish on zero at the break, ahead of Ireland by that frustrating half.
The top two had already put themselves ahead of the rest by a distance, but the gap was to become a chasm as the Irish and British dug deeper into their reserves in their attempts to fend off each other.
Peter Charles produced one of just three double clears, and Nick Skelton promptly followed suit to keep the British ahead.
However, two down from Robert Smith in reply to Trevor Coyle's nought gave the Irish the advantage and, when John Ledingham came up with the zero that had eluded him first time round, Eddie Macken couldn't better the score and returned to the stands on his feet as Schalkhaar headed back to his stable for an early night.
A clear from Di Lampard put Britain back in the reckoning and it was all down to the last man in, John Whitaker. The British veteran had been denied a place in the jump off for the Olympic medals five days earlier and the memory still rankled, but an Aga Khan victory would go a long way to erasing it.
The Irish could only sit and watch as Whitaker steered Grannusch to a superb fault free round that clinched the cup for Britain for its 22nd win in the series, leaving the home side wondering how it could notch up seven clears and still miss out.
The Irish camp must have been disappointed as it watched the President, Mrs Robinson, present the trophy to the British chef d'equipe, Ronnie Massarclla, whose features revealed no trace of the disappointment that had ravaged his face in Atlanta.