WHO would be a nominator in the Irish Cup? You pay €1,000 for the privilege, then — unless you’re an owner/nominator — you take pot luck on which dog you’re actually nominating, you’re one of 64 dogs in the running, and if you win, well, you get eight grand.

The first day of the last big classic of the coursing season, the JP McManus Irish Cup, and there he was, Brian Tansey, taking up his usual position on the viewing balcony at the top of the stand in Limerick racecourse in Patrickswell.

WHEN the National Coursing Meeting in Clonmel, the biggest event in Irish Coursing, was still a pup, the Irish Cup was already full-grown.