They said it couldn't be done. But the Irish show jumping team is never better than when the odds are stacked against it and, turning the form-book completely on its head, the home side triumphed at the RDS in spectacular style yesterday to snatch the precious Aga Khan trophy from under the noses of red-hot favourites and defending champions, Britain.
Some British supporters may have thought it was a scandal, but it was a horse of that name that held the key to the Irish success when a sensational double clear from Princess Haya's mare, Scandal, put Paul Darragh back on a winning Aga Khan team for the first time since 1979, when the Irish had claimed the cup outright.
But while Darragh and his team mates basked in their moment of glory, the British jockey, Geoff Billington, was reliving possibly his darkest hour after a disastrous second round left Britain's hopes of retaining the cup rolling around on the RDS turf with the Cheshire man.
It had all opened so well for the British, with three first-round clears mirrored by a hat-trick of Irish zeros that left the old rivals neck and neck, without even having to call on the services of their team captains, John Whitaker and Eddie Macken.
Amazingly the scores were still level at the top after the openers in the second round - Nick Skelton and Trevor Coyle - returned with four apiece. But while the remaining four teams attempted to keep the pressure on the leading duo, even the staunchest of Irish supporters could not rejoice in the dramatic downfall of Geoff Billington on his second tour of Paul Duffy's masterpiece of a track.
Billington, who had always filled the role of British clown until teaming up with the Otto, had survived an airborne moment through the combination in the first round. He managed to regain the sanctuary of the saddle that time, but Otto questioned Billington's choice of stride at the final element second time round and, after crashing through a jumble of poles, had to be faced into it all again.
Billington's determination to make amends meant Otto jumped bigger and bigger as the course went on. But he finally pitched his jockey clean out of the plate over the last and the commentator then announced Billington's elimination for failing to go through the finish.
It was a dramatic turnaround, but the situation was not beyond repair if Robert Smith and John Whitaker could conjure up the necessary clears after Captain John Ledingham's Hickstead hero, Kilbaha, rested a toe on the middle element of the treble.
Robert Smith kept his cool almost to the end, but Tees Hanauer clipped a rail off the second at the penultimate double of ditches and Irish hopes began to soar.
The crowds could barely contain their excitement as Paul Darragh set off in search of the holy grail - a double clear in the Aga Khan. A couple of sharp raps through the combination caused a mass intake of breath, instantly followed by urgent shushes as Darragh turned Scandal towards the water.
But they sailed over that and, with eight more faultless jumps under their girths, Darragh and Scandal headed for the final oxer. Heart-stoppingly, the mare rattled the back rail, but it ricocheted back into the cups and Darragh was home clear, celebrating his return to the Aga Khan side after a 10-year gap in the best possible style.
It still wasn't over, though, and a clear from British number four, John Whitaker, would force Eddie Macken to make his first appearance of the day with FAN Schalkhaar.
But Irish celebrations broke out early when Grannusch hit the sixth and another mistake was merely academic - Ireland had trounced the British in emphatic style and neither Eddie Macken nor the reigning European champion, Peter Charles, had had a hand in it.
The Dutch, floundering in fifth at the break, pulled up to second with three clears, to finish ahead of America and Germany. The British descent of the placings ended in fifth, but victory for a second-string squad in the Slovakian Nations Cup in Bratislava yesterday boosted the British to the top of the Samsung league.