Night at the mice traps punters with mighty craic

IT wasn’t quite the enclosure at Royal Ascot, but Sir David Hayes was quite at home at the Sinn Féin races at McCarthy’s Bar in Timoleague.

He'd arrived a bit late at the course, but was delighted to collect €50 as owner of second race winner, Snapps.

Later in the evening, he was spotted eyeing up the form through a pair of binoculars after all mice are small creatures.

"Sir David" is actually a farmer who lives two miles from the County Cork village of Timoleague, where the mouse racing was held last Friday night.

"The lads around here call me Sir David as a joke. That's because I own a big farmer's house, but I only have a small farm," Mr Hayes said.

While "Sir David" was one of a number of locals interested in the event, there were plenty of English voices to be heard at the fundraiser which didn't seem to concern the Sinn Féin lads one bit.

"Many English people live in west Cork and they're part of the society here. They're welcome," event organiser Cllr Cionnaith Ó Súilleabháin said.

Timoleague has seen its fair share of unusual races over the years, as David Coomey pointed out.

"We've had pig racing (as part of the annual festival), terrier racing and donkey racing," Mr Coomey said as a pair of mice tried to crawl up on his beard.

The local Sinn Féin organisation is toying with the idea of introducing frog racing as well to swell its electoral coffers. "I think the mouse racing is mighty craic. But I'd also look forward to frog racing," Mr Coomey said.