Crowd record smashed at action-packed Clonmel Agricultural Show

Ailish Hickey with her prize-winner in the poultry section at the Clonmel Show on Sunday

Clonmel Show copper-fastened its reputation as one of Munster’s biggest and best festivals of agriculture and rural life on Sunday by attracting a record crowd of visitors as well as record entries in some of its main competitions. 

The overcast weather mixed with splashes of sunshine proved a winning formula for the Clonmel Show organisers who reported that visitor numbers were up 10% on last year’s previous crowd record. 

People flocked to Powerstown Racecourse to browse around the show’s huge array of competitions and enjoy its novelty attractions and entertainment. 

There were competitions and events to suit every age and taste from the traditional cattle, sheep, pony, horse and poultry classes to showjumping, a dog show and pet show, flower arranging, vegetables, fruit, baking, arts and crafts classes.

Among the simple pleasures of visiting the show are watching livestock, horses and ponies being carefully groomed by their proud owners before going into the competition ring, marvelling at clever dogs racing through tunnels and jumping over hurdles in the dog obstacle competition and following the showjumpers on their magnificent steeds as they try to scale much higher fences. 

If these competitions didn’t tickle your fancy, there was a large kids entertainment area dominated by bouncy castles, a petting farm, a big contingent of trade and food stands, music entertainment, a vintage tractor and farm machinery exhibition along with a display of emergency services vehicles. 

Victor Quinlan of Clonmel Show Committee said not alone did this year’s show break its previous visitor record set last year but there were also record entries in  some of its livestock and equine competitions. 

He reported  a staggering 30% increase in the number of sheep classes that grew from 75 last year to 101 this year with more than 600 sheep entries. Three All-Ireland championships in sheep were decided at the Show. The overall champion  was a Dutch Spotted breed sheep owned by a Donegal farmer, who left his home at 3.30am on Sunday to get to Clonmel Show with his pedigree stock. 

While the Show’s cattle show classes remained at 49 as last year, there was  a big increase in entries to them.   As with the sheep section, breeders from all over the country travelled to showcase their cattle in the Show. The overall beef champion was bred by Bobby O’Connell from county Limerick. 

Victor reported there were more than 300 entries in the show horse and pony classes with approximately 500 horses and ponies taking part in the Show when showjumping classes are included. 

Such was the size of the equine show and show jumping competition section that four showjumping arenas were in operation throughout the day. 

The top showjumping competition, the Munster Grand Prix, boasting a prize fund of €5,000 was won by Francis Connors from county Waterford. The Champion Ridden horse of the show was owned and ridden by Rosemary Connors. 

The show’s poultry section also performed very strongly with 30 show classes including a number of All-Ireland championships. 

Some very fashionable humans also vied for honours at the Show. The Best Dressed Lady was Maria Stack from county Cork, who made her winning pink dress. The runner-up was a very stylish Sarah Stokes from Clonmel. 

The Best Dressed Lady competition was the curtain raiser for the famous Donkey Derby, which always marks the end of show day. 

The Nationalist bumped into newly elected Mayor of Clonmel Cllr Richie Molloy and Independent TD Mattie McGrath as they made a beeline to the Donkey Derby race ring. 

Cllr Molloy said he was delighted to see such a huge crowd at the show and  so many new stands and that the tradition of the Donkey Derby was continuing.

 Carrie Remembered

Both politicians remembered former Clonmel Show chairperson and president, the late Carrie Acheson, who passed away earlier this year.  Deputy McGrath said Carrie  was the voice of the Clonmel Show for many years. She was a  great motivating force behind the Show  and it was wonderful to see it   continue to flourish. 

There was a round of applause in tribute to Carrie Acheson before the start of the derby and the 20 jockeys and Show committee officers wore black armbands in her memory. 

The show’s 44th Donkey Derby didn’t let the large crowd of spectators down in producing some spectacular scenes of jockeys being thrown from their steeds and trying, often vainly, to remount them and continue on. 

In the end two professional jockeys came out on top.  Charlie Mullins, a member of the well known racing Mullins family, was the overall winner and recipient of the Star Fuels trophy with 2020 Epsom Derby winner Emmet McNamara in second place. 

Victor Quinlan paid tribute to all the Clonmel Show committee members and volunteers who worked tirelessly to organise the event. He pointed out  that between 60 and 80 volunteers have been busy cleaning up Powerstown Racecourse after the Show over the past few days.   

He also paid tribute to the local gardaí for the huge help they gave the Show organisers with managing the crowd and car parking.

Caption below: Sheep judging in progress during the Clonmel Show on Sunday.  Check out more of John D Kelly's photos from the Clonmel Show in this week's edition of The Nationalist now on sale in local shops.