Bill McLernon competed in the individual and team three-day eventing at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, riding Ballangarry before the horse went lame during the nine-mile road and track phase of the speed and endurance test and had to be withdrawn – placing enormous additional pressure on his teammates as every remaining score became essential for the team competition.

McLernon was a descendant of Mr O’Callaghan, who competed in what is regarded as the first recorded steeplechase race in 1752, from Buttevant Church to the steeple of St Leger Church in Cork – a remarkable historic lineage in Irish equestrian sport.