Whelan and Tracey book world ticket

Winners of gold and bronze last July at the World Ploughing Contest in Canada, John Whelan (Wexford), and Eamon Tracey, (Carlow) were dominant in their respective classes at Ratheniska, Co Laois, securing their places on the team for the world contest in Bordeaux, France, next year.

The county prize went to Cork West, with six clear wins. Louth had three; Laois, Waterford and Wexford two each; and Cork East and Monaghan, one apiece.

The Kings of Louth (three wins) and the Prendergasts of Waterford hurling fame (two wins) secured remarkable family triumphs.

Agricultural Ireland shone out in its brightest colours at the Ploughing Championships. The record attendance of nearly 230,000 speaks volumes for the achievements of the National Ploughing Association, which was praised by President Michael D Higgins when he performed the official opening.

Political leaders acknowledged the standing of the event by attending in great numbers, starting with Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney, and his junior minister, Tom Hayes, from early on Wednesday morning.

On Thursday, Taoiseach Enda Kenny relished his tour of the ploughing plots, and even tried his hand with one of the horse ploughs.

Other political leaders to attend included Fianna Fáil’s Micheál Martin and Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams.

Also at Ratheniska were ministers Phil Hogan, Joan Burton, James O’Reilly and Richard Bruton.

Several MEPs and TDs also attended the ploughing.

Plough competition results were as follows:

Under 28 Conventional (Senior Grade): 1, Kieran Coakley (Cork West) 216 points; 2, Brendan Greene (Laois) 197; 3, Sean Monaghan (Longford) 191.

Under 28 Conventional (Junior Grade): 1, Cian Keohane (Cork East) 185; 2, David Owen (Kildare} 155; 3, Cormac O’Connor (Kerry) 136.

Under 28 Reversible: 1, Ger Coakley (Cork West) 117; 2, Eric Wickham (Wexford) 114; 3, Dermot Ryan (Offaly) 101.

Two-Furrow Mounted Vintage: 1, John Keohane (Cork West) 165; 2, John McBryde (Offaly) 161; 3, Seamus Byrne (Wexford) 159.

Macra: 1, Gerry O’Driscoll (Cork West) 89; 2, David Murphy (Cork East) 87; 3, Eoin Kelly (Longford) 86.

Single-Furrow Vintage:1, Gordon Jennings (Cork West) 134; 2, Bruno McCormack (Offaly) 129; 3, Eoin Buttle (Wexford} 129.

Standard Reversible:1, Ger Lawlor (Cork West) 113; 2, Brian Hennessy (Laois) 109; 3, Paul Doran (Wexford) 107.

Farmerette Class:1, Joanne Deery (Monaghan) 104; 2, Rose Nyhan (Cork West) 100; 3, Cynthia Geelan (Longford) 94.

Under-40 Horse class:1, David King (Louth) 137; 2, Ger Collins (Cork West) 131; 3, Jeremiah Delaney (Cork East) 123.

Special Horse Class:1, Gerard King (Louth) 167; 2m James Kilgarriffe (Galway) 160; 3, JJ Delaney (Cork East), 152.

Senior Horse Class:1, Gerry King (Louth) 156; 2, Gerry Reilly (Galway) 137; 3, JJ Delaney (Cork East) 136.

Under-21 Conventional (Senior Grade):1, Ger Kirby (Cork West) 183; 2, Tony McGrath (Kilkenny) 171; 3, Tomas Cullen (Wexford) 164.

Intermediate/Reversible:1, Patsy Condron (Laois) 233; 2, Karl Davis (Laois) 214; Tie for 3rd, Tom McCarthy (Kerry) and Paddy Harrington (Cork East) 194.

Standard Three-Furrow Conventional:1, Patrick Cooley (Wexford) 90; Ned Conway (Kilkenny) 80; 3, Matt Coakley (Cork West) 78.

Three-Furrow Conventional (Senior) 1, James Prendergast (Waterford)184; 2, Eamon Meade (Laois)172; 3, Kieran Mcgee (Monaghan) 163.

Trailer Vintage: 1, Liam Prendergast (Waterford) 160; 2, Bertie Murray (Carlow) 158; 3, Aeneas Horan (Kerry) 153.

Under 21 (Junior)1, Lee Simms (Donegal) 184; 2, Aidan Higgins (Galway) 177; 3, Liam Murphy (Tipperary North) 153.

Junior Conventional:1, Trevor Cobbe (Offaly) 204; 2, Liam Hamilton (Wicklow) 186; Jonathan Murray (Offaly) 181.

Intermediate Conventional: 1, Padraig Brandon (Laois) 206; 2, Eamonn Burke (Galway) 106; 3, Alan Davis (Laois) 104.

Senior Conventional (Test): 1, Eamonn Tracey (Carlow) 433; 2, Sean Keating (Wexford) 432; 3, Willie John Kehoe (Wexford) 426 ; 4, Barry O’Sullivan (Cork West) 410.

Senior Reversible (Test):1, John Whelan (Wexford) 482; 2, Ger Coakley (Cork West) 468; 3, Liam O’Driscoll (Cork West) 456.