The North Armagh Dog Show and Race Day , Sunday 10thJune 18. ( Breandan Colemans Show )

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The North Armagh Dog Show and Race Day , Sunday 10thJune 18.

As we left Portadown on Sunday morning with the dog chorus in toe, and  howling  out “The Boys from the County Armagh”, we  headed into the beautiful sunshine of a glorious June morning. As we passed the picturesque setting of Oxford Island on the shores of Lough Neagh, very shortly Kinnego Embankment came into view and our venue for the North Armagh Dog Show and Raceday. 

We arrived in the field at approximately 10.30am, and to be honest, it was very hard to get a parking place at that time of the morning near the rings. Every year this show grows in capacity, but this year has topped them all. By the start of showing there was not a vacant parking place on this vast stretch of show ground and all parked three deep.
 

As the cars and trailers emptied out on the field, it was quite evident that this was not only a dog show, but also a great family day out. It filled me with pride to see so many local stands displaying their goods to the Canine Community. “Field Sports Apparel “ owned by two of the most active country sportsmen on the field sports scene Graham Fyffe and Ian Fitzgerald were there with lots of Country Sports T shirts, badges and caps, Cahill Collars,Charlene Martin with Dog Food and muzzels, Brian Crothers with his catapults,Ice cream van, Burger and Chip van.

The North Armagh Show brings people from all parts of Ireland and is now an annual event to look forward to. Along my trip around the rings, I had a little bit of chat, craic and banter with Niall Mc Cann and Stanley Moore with their winning strong dogs, Jonny Wilson and Freddie Hallissey with their Lurchers, Christina and Lexie Maguire with their beautiful Whippets and Mickey Thomas and David Mc Crory with their winning Terriers. All great Country Sports people, and always good for a laugh.

Two top highlights of the day for me were the Ferrets and the Digging. 

Matthew Downey and Simon Kelly  provided a superb display of top class entertainment in the Ferret showing and racing ring. Matthew your show is a credit to you, very well run and most enjoyable. Ferret Judge was : Barry Mc Greevy

Ferret Showing was won by : 

Rose Mc Coy with Andre

Ferret Racing was won by : 

Katelyn Maxwell with Polo.

Well done to both ladies.

Now we come to the digging. I cannot find words to describe the entertainment value these digging guys brought to this show. With T shirts flying in the air, Breandans wee green and yellow socks flashing in the summer sunshine, and Harrys muscles flexing everywhere, I must say my heart was thumping too fast for my age. With their women folk dousing them with water and cheering them on in a foreign language, very soon Simon Patterson blew the whistle and the entertainment of the day was over.   And what a half hour that was.

Here are the Results

Dig 1 ; Harry Roche and Ken Wilson  5.20

Dig 2 : Breandan Coleman and Richard Coss 5.80

Dig 3 : Mark Hanlon and Kieran Stanley  3.55

And the winners are : 

Dig 2 :  

Breandan Coleman and Richard Coss. Congratulations to Breandan and Richard and all who took part. You are all winners and thanks for being great showmen.

Showing Results :

Childrens Handling Class : Conal Burke

Whippets :

Overall Champion Whippet

Colin Maguire with Pepsi

Reserve

Kirsty Fyffe with Rascal

Lurchers

Overall Champion Lurcher

Freddie Hallissey with Lennox

Reserve

Jerry Owens with Finn

Terriers

Overall Champion Terriers

Mickey Thomas with Pepsi

Reserve

David Mc Crory with Clyde

Overall Champion Pup

Issac Mc Cullough with Lectur

Reserve

Ken Wilson with Cleo

Overall Champion Strong Dog

Luke Morrow with Dollar

Reserve

Niall Mc Cann with Ralph

***Overall Champion and Best in Show went to: ***

Sheamus Donnelly with Pepsi

Reserve

Freddie Hallissey with Lennox.

Congratulations to Sheamus and Freddie and all above winners.

Some Racing Results :

Whippet PUP

Mairead Fearon with Spinx

Lurcher PUP

Sheamus Hart with Moses

Whippet Racing

Barry Chambers with Alfie

Sean Burke with Lily

Barry Chambers with Ruby

***Master Mc Grath***

Joe Leonard with Zero Scared

Reserve

Kirsty Harpur with Meghan

***Mick The Millar***

Sean Burke with Milo

Reserve 

Jed Donagh with Beauty

Under 23 Mick The Miller

Carol Ann Brown with Suki

 Under 21

Joe Leonard with Running Scared

Over 23

Joe Leonard with Really Scared

Under 23 

Mairead Fearon with Jessie

Reserve

Kirsty Harpur with Lady

Light Bull Cross

Kirsty Harpur with Skylar

Heavy Bull Cross

Dylan Doran with Buster

 

Many thanks to the Judges on the day for a job well done.

Ferret Judge : Barry Mc Greevy

Childrens Handling class : Margaret Mc Stay
Whippets : Stephen Mc Gonigle
Lurchers :  Simon Patterson
Terriers :    Paul Mc Geown
Strong Dogs : Simon Patterson 

 

And Finally, We must not forget three very important people on the day. Kirsty Fyffe, David Carlisle and Patsy Mc Coy for their outstanding team work and brilliant organisation of all the racing events. These 3 people put some hard work and determination in on the day at the starting line in getting it all together, but you all achieved your goal 100%.  Great work Kirsty and Co.

And Finally, Finally, I always leave the best to last. Yes Breandan Coleman, you and your team were simply the best. You run your show with impeccable organisation and skill. It was very evident a lot of preparation went on behind the scenes to make this show a most enjoyable day for everyone. All events went without a hitch, and some very happy people went home with another nice trophy for the mantle piece. 

Breandan, you are not just a good friend, you are gentleman and an honest and true sportsman.

We all had a most enjoyable and memorable day at the North Armagh Dog Show and Race Day. Thank you for everything and I am already looking forward to your next show in 2019.

 

Margaret Mc Stay
 

 

Edited June 13, 2018 by appleblossom