The Irish Grand National next Spring is a possible target for Mossbank following his smooth victory in the €120,000 Ladbrokes Munster National at Limerick's Greenmount Park in Patrickswell.

A son of Kadeed, the 8/1 shot represented a first winner in the showpiece for local trainer Michael Hourigan and pilot Andrew McNamara. "He lived up to the promise I felt he had three years ago," Hourigan commented afterwards. "I had always reckoned him a good horse but that didn't quite materialise – still to win the Munster National is great, and he did it in style, travelling and jumping well throughout."

Mossbank traveled strongly turning for home and took over from the pacemaking Ballyagran (11/2) before comfortably holding Whataboutya (7/1) by two-and-a-half lengths. Enda Bolger's Darby Wall (7/1) finished third and Guinness Kerry National winner Ponmeoath (12/1, a real drifter in the market) was fourth for Eric McNamara.

Hourigan has no immediate plans for Mossbank. "It's likely you won't see him for a while," remarked the trainer. "We'll give him a chance to freshen up again, that's the way he likes it. He's working like a real horse at home and work rider Kevin Power (Bruff) said to me on Friday that the horse was on fire."

He added that the Irish Grand National is now a realistic target for his latest stable star. "Moss would handle the likely ground at that time of the year."

The victory represented a timely boost for Hourigan, whose Lisaleen Stables were in trouble for all theWinter period. "I went from November to May 1st without a single winner," Hourigan pointed out. "With around 100 horses in training that was a difficult time, very difficult time. We had a problem in the yard and it was hard to keep the team interested.

"Some owners, and it was hard to blame them, left but those that stayed were wonderful. It was frustrating that we couldn't find out what was wrong. It wasn't until mid-April that it was discovered there was a problem with the hay. The equivalent of Farmer's Lung was the cause of our yard's poor form – the horses often appeared fine, and some even ran through it, but they hadn't really energy to finish out races."

Listowel marked a return to form for the Hourigan Yard and the Munster National triumph copper-fastened that belief. "Limerick has always been special to me and my family, and there is a greater step in me today with this win," Hourigan stated. "I'm a long time at this game (after six years trying, he eventually trained a first winner at the old Limerick Racecourse way back in 1979), and to me every winner is a great one."