A massive crowd thronged Powerstown Park Racecourse for action packed Clonmel Show

Pictured above: Peter Quinlan, Frankie Quinlan, Amelia O’Loughlin and Jack Quinlan at the Clonmel Show’s Sheep Section.

Clonmel Show was the Mecca that well over 20,000 people descended on last Sunday to savour one of Ireland’s best showcases of agricultural and rural life and enjoy a fun summer day out.

Show organisers believe such was the crowd that thronged Powerstown Park Racecoure last Sunday that visitors numbers may have surpassed even last year’s record crowd.

“We were absolutely blessed with the weather,” declared Clonmel Show PRO Victor Quinlan.

Indeed, the warm fine day was ideal for browsing around the Show’s vast array of competitions, entertainment and novelty attractions.

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, a vintage farm machinery display, flower arranging, vegetables, fruit, baking, arts and crafts classes.

Clonmel Show Buzz was the theme of this year’s event with the work of south Tipperary’s beekeepers, the history of honey production in the Clonmel area and promotion of biodiversity specially celebrated. South Tipp Beekeepers Association members sold local honey and the flower show reflected the theme with more bee-friendly flower and photography classes included.

The Clonmel Show has become the country’s top show for sheep competitions, even surpassing the Tullamore Show.

The Show’s Joint Chairperson Shay Kennedy, who heads up the sheep section, reported 570 entries in the 113 sheep classes that included All-Ireland championship finals for Hampshire Downs, Zwartbles, Jacob breeds and the Rouge D’Louest ram/lamb class.

There was intense interest in the selection of the National Sheep Breeders Association Champion of Show when The Nationalist visited the ring. A Charollais sheep owned by Pat White from Kilrossanty, county Waterford was declared champion while a Suffolk owned by Patrick O’Keeffe from Mallow was reserve champion.

It was also a bumper show in the cattle section where there were 17 more classes than last year. The overall Beef Champion was a Simmental bull calf owned by William, Mary and Robbie O’Halloran from Cahir while the reserve was owned by Seamus Neary from Kilkenny.

The 66 horse and pony classes and 21 showjumping competitions were run over five show rings and four show jumping arenas throughout the day.

The most prestigious showjumping competition, the Munster Grand Prix, boasting a prize fund of €5,000 was won by Tadgh Beecher.

In the show classes, the Supreme Young Horse Champion was owned by James Dunphy from Mooncoin while the Thoroughbred Broodmare Class with a €4,000 prize fund, was won by Eileen Furlong from New Ross and the Supreme Ridden Hunter of the Show was a horse owned by Brian Murphy from Gowran, county Kilkenny.

There were also plenty of novelty competitions and events to tickle show visitors’ fancy ranging from an international fencing contest that attracted a number of teams from the UK to a demonstration of Indian style tug-of-war by members of the local Indian community.

The Tractor Driving Skills tests were one of the most hotly contested novelty competitions of the day testing drivers in their ability to complete skills races that included placing a bucket of coal carried on a hook on a narrow table and driving a John Deere tractor and roller in a figure of eight can against the clock.

That competition was won by 20-year-old Angus Wallace from Geraldine, Canterbury in New Zealand who is working with Tuohy Agri Services in Ballingarry doing baling and silage cutting for the summer months.

“I did tractor pulling back home but nothing like this. It was a tough challenge,” said Angus whose fastest time completing the course was 1 minute 42 seconds. He is living in Coalbrook during his time in Ireland and will return home in October.

The Show’s grand finale is the Donkey Derby, which celebrated its 45th year on Sunday. It did not disappoint.

A huge crowd gathered around the derby race track complete with its own Becher’s Brook jump to watch the spectacle that began with much fanfare with the Dr O’Hurley Pipe Band from Cashel, Mayor of Clonmel Cllr Michael Murphy, Clonmel Show President Eddie O’Gorman and other dignitaries leading the parade of jockeys and donkeys to the race ring.

The falls of the jockeys from their trusty steeds were greeted with loud peals of laughter from spectators.

It seemed that simply managing to stay on board your ass was the secret to success. Most jockeys ended up running after their runaway mounts.

The overall Donkey Derby winner was Gavin Ryan with Joey Sheridan in second and Jamie Heffernan third.

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. 

Also check out all the results from the Clonmel Show on http://www.clonmelshow.ie

Pictured below: Members of All-Ireland winning Tipperary Minor team brought along their silverware to the Clonmel Show and were joined by Tipperary Rose Tara Brady