We are taking a retrospective look at last week’s peerless Punchestown Festival as the curtains were drawn on the jumps season in Ireland.

Five days of magical National Hunt action lit up the Co Kildare venue and below we have selected our top performances of the week over hurdles.

State Man

The king of the two-milers and now there is very little doubt about it. State Man stamped his class on the Boodles Champion Hurdle to win the race for the third year running and make amends for his mishap at Cheltenham in March where he surely would have collected a second Champion Hurdle had he cleared the final flight.

Cotswolds scorer Golden Ace was put in her place here, while Constitution Hill signed off a deeply disappointing season in timid fashion.

State Man, meanwhile, did what he nearly always does and turned up on the big day. He is now unquestionably the top two-mile hurdler in Britain or Ireland currently in training.

Final Demand

His Willie Mullins-trained stablemate Final Demand also delivered when asked in the Alanna Homes Champion Novice Hurdle, as he spread-eagled the field for a 16-length win. He swatted aside the challenge of the Gordon Elliott-trained The Yellow Clay, who took a tired fall late on when beaten, and put major daylight between himself and some promising rivals.

This superb effort from Final Demand also gave a major nod to The New Lion, winner of the Turners at Cheltenham in March and Britain's top novice over timber.

"It was an awesome performance over that trip, for that horse," said Mullins. "Paul felt he didn't go fast enough in Cheltenham and said to Caroline (Tilsdale, part-owner) 'today I'm going to show him off'. For a big chaser (type) to jump the way he did when it mattered, he was electric."

Teahupoo

Teahupoo was relieved of his Stayers' Hurdle crown in Cheltenham by Bob Olinger in the same Robcour ownership but the Elliott inmate clung to the Champion Stayers prize on home soil, as he won in clear cut fashion from the retiring Asterion Forlonge in second spot.

He doesn't stand a lot of racing, for the second season running this was just his third start of the campaign, but he is very dependable when he turns out and a similar plan will be in place for next season for this still eight-year-old, who now has five Grade 1s on his CV.

Lulamba

Like Teahupoo, compensation was the claim for Lulamba at Punchestown as he gave Nicky Henderson a pick-me-up following Constitution Hill's defeat.

The Donnelly's four-year-old was mugged late on in the Triumph Hurdle by 100/1 shot Poniros at Cheltenham but James Bowen, deputising for the injured Nico de Boinville, helped turn that around with a dominant performance on the front end in the Ballymore Champion Four Year Old Hurdle as Lulamba collected the €74,999 prize.

Post-race, Henderson hinted that the future for Lulamba will be over fences and he's around a 6/1 shot for the Arkle at Cheltenham next season.

Jade De Grugy

Perhaps the most intriguing betting market of the week was ahead of the SBK Irish EBF Mares Champion Hurdle on Saturday, as Mullins' Jade De Grugy deposed Elliott's Brighterdaysahead atop the market for the Grade 1.

The Gigginstown mare had delivered one of the season's most astonishing efforts in beating State Man by more than 30 lengths at Christmas but she has not repeated it in her two spring runs.

Paul Townend and Jade De Grugy travelled best in this two-and-a-half-miler and went to the front after two out before cruising clear, while fellow Kenny Alexander-owned Gala Marceau condemned Brighterdaysahead to settle for third spot.