O'Neill treble a highlight at Tinahely

Only one meeting for the second weekend of the new campaign. The Tinahely fixture provided plenty of interest, and the first treble of the season for a rider, Barry O'Neill taking the last three races on the card.

Barry started the day with a fall at the last in an incident-packed four-year-old maiden. He was on the Colin Bowe-trained newcomer Alone No More who was challenging the eventual winner Manitowoc County, ridden by Jamie Codd for Denis Murphy. This Darsi gelding ran twice last season, and showed his experience in putting in a good round of jumping. My feeling was that he would probably have won anyway.

There were two other fallers, including my own mount Jerrysback, well-fancied to score for Colin McKeever and owner Wilson Dennison on the strength of a second at Kirkistown last season. The race also witnessed an unseat, a slip-up and a pull-up, so only five of the 11 completed.