Fabulous first day for festival of the furrow

Fragments from the freak fireball that flew across the firmament the other night were not to be found on the fertile fields of Heathpark, New Ross, yesterday.

But the first day of the ploughing championships still managed to become a festival of the furrow, of fashionable fascinators and of free-flowing focail, beginning with the sixth letter of the alphabet.

Despite heavy rain, thousands flocked to the farmlands for the start of the three-day event.