Another record-breaking year at Ploughing Championships

The Ploughing Championships for 2014 have come and gone, setting yet another record, with attendance of more than 124,000 on Wednesday.

Everything ran smoothly at the Ratheniska site in Co Laois, with National Ploughing Association managing director Mrs Anna May McHugh and her stewards and workers doing trojan work to cater for the total attendance of more than 279,000.

The event was opened by President Michael D Higgins, who traversed the site and showed a special interest in e horse ploughing, which he said was dear to his heart, reminding him of the farming methods of his youth in Co Clare. Also present on various days were the Taoiseach and members of his cabinet, the political party leaders, and church dignitaries.

Among the attractions for the huge attendances were the 1,400 trade exhibitors; seeing plough competitors Eamonn Tracey from Co Carlow and John Whelan from Co Wexford, Ireland’s gold and bronze medal winners at the recent World Ploughing Contest in Bordeaux, France; and a look at the tractor used by Charlie Keegan, when the Wicklow man won the world championship for Ireland, in Austria in 1964.

On a more romantic note, the Ploughing could be where your father met your mother. I met a family whose romance blossomed from a chance meeting at the Ploughing in Castletownroche in 1999, a couple from distantly separated counties who said they have lived happily since. So come rain or shine, the Ploughing is the place to be where all strands of society meet-up in mutual harmony.

Ploughing competition results

Under-28 Conventional (Senior Grade):

1. Brendan Greene (Laois); 2. Kieran Coakley (Cork West); 3. Sean Monaghan (Longford); 4. Cian Keohane (Cork East).

Under-28 Reversible Class:

1. Ger Coakley (Cork West); 2. David Jamison Antrim; 3. Eric Wickham (Wexford); 4. Jamie O’Sullivan (Cork East).

Under-28 Conventional Class Junior Grade:

1. David Ownes (Kildare); 2. Tomas Cullen (Wexford); 3. Cormac O’Connor (Kerry); 4. Jarlath Colleran (Mayo).

Under-40 Horse Class:

1. Ger Collins (Cork West); 2. David King (Louth); 3. Jer Delaney (Cork East); 4. Patrick Commane (Kildare).

Standard Three-Furrow Conventional Class:

1. Kieran Dunne (Kildare); 2. Edward Forristal (Kilkenny); 3. Matthew Coakley (Cork West); 4. James Murphy (Tipp South).

Intermediate Reversible Class:

1. Enda Kelly (Offaly); 2. Jimmy Ryan (Laois); 3. Colin Ruttle (Limerick); 4. Michael O’Halloran (Kerry).

Three-Furrow Conventional Match Class:

1. Pat Furlong (Wexford); 2. James Prendergast (Waterford); 3. Kieran McGee (Monaghan); 4. D J McHugh (Laois).

Intermediate Conventional Class:

1. Thomas Hartley (Kilkenny); 2. Matthew Simms (Donegal); 3. Jim Grace (Cork West); 4. Padraig Brandon (Laois).

Macra Two-Furrow Conventional Class:

1. James Linehan (Cork East-Seandun); 2. Frank Cullen (Wexford); 3. David Walsh (Cork West-Carbery); 4. David Murphy (Cork East-Avondhu) and David Whitney (Longford) (a tie).

Farmerette Conventional Class:

1. Joanne Deery (Monaghan); 2. Cynthia Geelan (Longford); 3. Martina Flynn (Kerry); 4. Anna Marie McHugh (Laois).

Senior Reversible Class:

1. Martin Kehoe Snr (Wexford); 2. John Whelan (Wexford); 3. Ger Coakley (Cork West); 4. Liam O’Driscoll (Cork West).

Senior Horse Class:

1. Gerard Reilly (Galway); 2. Gerry King (Louth); 3. Moss Trant (Kerry); 4. JJ Delaney (Cork East); 5. John O’Donovan (Cork West).

Vintage Two-Furrow Mounted Class:

1. Ethan Harding (Tipperary North); 2. Paddy Doyle (Wicklow); 3. Alan Simms (Donegal); 4. Timmy Horan (Kerry); 5. John Keohane (Cork West).

Vintage Two-Furrow Trailer Class:

1. Liam Prendergast (Waterford); 2. Tommy Cullen (Wexford); 3. David Gattin (Down); 4. Bertie Murray (Carlow).

Vintage Single-Furrow:

1. Bruno McCormac (Meath); 2. David Levingstone (Wexford); 3. Trevor Fleming (Cork East); 4. Eoin Buttle (Dublin).

Under-21 Conventional Class:

1. Ger Kirby (Cork West); 2. Emett Wickham (Wexford); 3. Lee Simms (Donegal); 4. Lorcan Bergin (Tipp South).

Under-21 Conventional, Junior Grade:

1 Jamie Hayes (Cork East); 2. Aidan Higgins (Galway); 3. Denis Dunne (Kildare); 4. Padraig Deery (Monaghan).

Standard Three-Furrow Reversible:

1. Niall Twomey (Cork East); 2. Paul Doran (Wexford); 3. Patrick Power (Waterford); 4. Kieran O’Connor (Laois).

Junior Conventional Class:

1. Derek O’Driscoll (Kerry); 2. Gerard Sheridan (Mayo) and Philip Healy (Kerry), a tie; 4. Noel Howley (Tipp South).

Special Horse Class:

1. Tim Lawlor (Cork West); 2. James Kilgarriff (Galway); 3. Jer Delaney (Cork West); 4. Kevin Doran (Wicklow).

Kverneland Reversible Test:

1. John Whelan (Wexford); 2. Martin Kehoe (Wexford); 3. Ger Coakley (Cork West); 4. Liam O’Driscoll (Cork West).

Senior Conventional:

1. Eamon Tracey (Carlow); 2. Sean Keating (Wexford); 3. Matt Simms (Donegal); 4. Gary Simms (Donegal).

Irish Team for World Championships in Denmark in 2015:

Eamonn Tracey and John Whelan.