15 vie for places in Club of Year final
They are Treble R, Dublin; Kilcloon, Co Meath; Freemount, Avondhu; Galway City; Glanmire, Seandun; Mountmellick, Co Laois; Kinsalebeg, Co Waterford; Dundrum, South Tipperary; Kilkenny City; Ferbane-Banagher, Co Offaly; Moynalty, Co Meath; Togher, Co Louth; Mitchelstown, Avondhu; Bantry, Carbery; and Limerick City. The latter four are also the contenders for the AIB Best Emerging Club title.
The Club of the Year title is the highest accolade a club can achieve. The national semi-final will take place shortly, and will leave six going through to the final on Saturday, October 29, during the Macra annual conference and rally in the Radisson Blu, Little Island, Cork.
The AIB Best New Member Competition will also be adjudicated at the rally. The 12 finalists are Susan Cleary, Tullamore, Co Offaly; Tanya O’Sullivan, Limerick City; Pamela Devaney, Galway City; Louise Houston, South Leitrim; Kilian Kane, Kilkenny City; Aoife Walsh, Dungarvan, Co Waterford; Syl Douglas, Ashford, Co Wicklow; Lorcan Murphy, Ballymurphy, Co Carlow; Eva O’Riordan, Berrings, Muskerry, Co Cork; Mary Anne Murphy, Freemount, Avondhu, Co Cork; Nicholas Butterly, Togher, Co Louth; and Nicholas Coyle, Ardcath, Co Meath.
The award goes to the member deemed by his or her club to have made a significant contribution to the club in their first year of membership.
*The conference and rally, from October 28 to 31, also features the Bord Bia stockjudging and the Know Your Ag quiz. Sponsored by Dairygold Co-op, the conference is the highlight of the Macra calendar and will attract thousands of visitors to Cork.
Keynote speakers have been named for the young farmer conference on October 29. They are Irish Cattle Breeding Federation chief executive Brian Wickham; beef and tillage farmer Billy Nicholson; and 1,000-acre tillage farmer Jim O’Regan, of the Beet Ireland committee bidding to re-establish the sugar beet industry.
