Ireland's eventing team, already tipped by the Olympic Council of Ireland for a medal in Athens, are tuned and ready for the off, the five riders exuding a quiet confidence as final preparations are made for this afternoon's first horse inspection.

"They're very focused," chef d'équipe Helen Cantillon O'Keeffe said at the Markopoulo equestrian venue yesterday. "It's the first time in eight years that we've had our first-choice squad and if they perform to the standard they've already proved themselves at we could be within a squeak of a bronze."

Susan Shortt, the only one of the quintet with any previous Olympic experience, will lead off for the team, who are drawn sixth of the 23 nations. The 38-year-old Kildare rider was shortlisted for both Barcelona and Athens, but finally made her Olympic debut in Sydney, where she was pathfinder for the team that finished fifth.

Shortt was based with Australian David Green in Wiltshire for the five weeks prior to her departure for Athens and spent some time watching the Australian squad in training. The Australians, team gold medallists at the last three Olympics, are hot favourites to continue their run of success, but Shortt's insight into the training camp has boosted Irish confidence.

"We're as good as they are," she said yesterday, after dousing her head with the contents of a half-litre bottle of water to cool off after a dressage session with trainer Mary Darcy. "They make the same mistakes we do, so we won't be going into this afraid of anyone. Let the others worry about us."

That bullish confidence has permeated right through the Irish squad, with morale at an all-time high and great camaraderie among the five team members.

"It's the best team for morale and everyone getting on with each other that I've been on," said Shortt.

Shortt runs in her traditional role as number one, followed by Ireland's best hope for an individual medal, Sasha Harrison, then Niall Griffin, Edmond Gibney and Mark Kyle.

Griffin, who carried the Tricolour at last night's opening ceremony, has plenty of supporters arriving to cheer him on, led by his father, Wexford hurling legend Liam Griffin.

"The entire family are coming," Griffin said. "Eleven of them, including cousins that I didn't even know I had."

Griffin, like Shortt, has an air of assurance and seems unfazed by the whole Olympic circus.

"We're all feeling very confident," he said. "I think we're all hoping for a good result."

The team has the use of a house in nearby Porto Rafti, where they can relax and escape the blazing sun between the early-morning stints on their horses and the afternoon sessions. While the other riders have been commuting between the Olympic village and Markopoulo every day, Griffin has been staying in the Porto Rafti house overnight, although the chill-out ambience was shattered somewhat on Thursday night when he celebrated his 27th birthday with his team-mates.

With so much pressure on the riders to perform, relaxation time - as well as work - has been high on the agenda. The chance to get away from the competition venue and the opportunity to put the sessions with team sports psychologist Brendan Hackett to good use will be all-important if the riders are to maintain the cool heads needed for the dressage, which starts tomorrow.

The 8,000-seater stadium is already a sell-out for both dressage days and, with the crowd seated fairly close to the edge of the arena, some lively tests are expected.

"I reckon the horses will hold their breath for the first minute when they get into the arena," Griffin said yesterday.

He may be facing the biggest test of his career so far, but Griffin maintains his sense of humour. Swiftly changing tack, he added: "You should see the size of the horseflies around here. When they land you get out a knife and fork."

Also keeping the sunny side up is Kyle, whose biography in the Olympic Council of Ireland brochure says he tips the scales at 17st 7lbs.

"I've been working out in the gym every day," the Wicklow man quipped as he rode the grey Drunken Disorderly into the practice arena yesterday, "and I'm down to 12 stone now."

Despite the jokes, the riders are deadly serious about the job in hand and, as the nerves begin to bite, even team trainer Darcy - a perfectionist and stickler for detail - is keen to keep things upbeat.

"I keep having to remind them to chill out," she said, "otherwise they could undermine all the work we've done over the past month."

There won't be too much chilling out in Markopoulo over the next five days, with a heatwave forecast and the competition hotting up.

By Wednesday, when the team and individual medals are decided in the show-jumping arena, temperatures will be at boiling point.