Gallowglass one for Ryans in Limerick

Stephen Ryan saddled his first racecourse winner since 2016 when Gallowglass claimed Limerick's bumper.

The five-year-old gelding stepped up on a promising debut second at Clonmel in March.

He made headway to tack onto the leaders approaching the home bend.

He then travelled powerfully for the trainer's nephew Trevor Ryan as the pair got on terms with two furlongs to travel.

With a furlong and a half to go, he began to pull ahead of an under-pressure Champagne Paddy and he increased it in the final furlong to win by five lengths at 10/3.

Champagne Paddy was the 7/4 favourite from as big as 11/2 in the morning.

There was a gap of nine lengths back to third-placed Russian Soldier at 25/1.

Stephen Ryan said: "That was lovely and I was hoping he'd build on his first run, which was encouraging.

"I've had a heap of placed horses recently and this has made up for them!"

Additional reporting by Thomas Weekes