South East Ireland
with
Billy Walsh
Irish Night with the Stars
By now every man and his mistress has realised the Irish Night with the Stars is the go to gig of 2016. The must be seen at event is on October 22nd at the Clayton Hotel near Dublin Airport. The guest list reads like a who's who of all things pigeon. The best collection of birds possibly ever assembled here for auction will be under the golden hammer of Gerry McCourt. Mark Gilbert, Eamon Kelly of Kelly & Lyod winners of 2 x 1st National in 2015. Crammond & Langstaff. Darling & Ede from Southampton who are fast making a name, and a big name, for themselves at national level. All sending from they're very best. M & D Evans. Gibb & Byrne. Woodruffe Bros. Gerry o' Riely & Son, Soderlund & Madison, Herbie Thorpe, Jos Riely.. P & D Racing & Breeding stud. Bloodlines through Harry, Cow Girl, Sagan, Kittle, Den Extreem, Goede Rode. We could be here all day.
The panel consisting of Geoff & Catherine Cooper. Brian Bolton. Steve Goulding. Bob Fenech. Ronnie Bigwood is the MC for the evening, and a more knowledgeably or entertaining man for the job would be impossible to find. Some of the celebrity guests will also do a turn on the panel. Spot prizes of free one loft race entries and race kits included in the price. Tickets are now available at 35 euro and are being snapped up. It will be a sell out. I know some of the lads down country are chomping to rub shoulders with the Dublin brigade at the auction and with several birds already earmarked as coming back down the country, regardless of cost, This will be be a battle worthy of Croak Park and worth the admission price alone just to be there. This is a serious auction.
The event itself is to purchase a transporter unit for the Irish Homing Union National Flying Club and once and for all truly develop National racing here. This is why so many of the leading lights from the UK are supporting this event. The potential is truly enormous ad it must be made use of. The country lads have saved this National. Nurtured it. It is growing at a tremendous pace. Time for Dublin to show what they have to offer. Time to show of they are up for it? Have they the bottle and the birds for National racing?
Someone who is definitely up for it and has been of immense help in putting this project together is the one and only Maurice O' Donnell. Talk is cheap but this man has Walked the Walk. Stood up to the plate. Bent over backward. Stood above the parapet. Rolled up his sleeves. Pulled down his...........socks. And I am delighted to be able to give here a little cameo of the man himself.
Maurice O Donnell with Michael Maseralla.
Maurice was born into pigeons the O'Donnell's have been associated with pigeons since racing began there many decades ago. Maurice currently races in partnership with his brother Martin as O Donnell Bros with the Na Deise club in his native town. It was the untimely death of another brother, Tommy, that saw Maurice quit the sport in the mid 90s. I knew Tommy from my days as secretary of the Munster federation and shred many an hour in his terrific company at the High Chaparral with Gerald Crotty and many other stalwarts from the town.
The bug bit again, as it invariably does, and having watched a DVD of the legendary Jos Joosen, Maurice took himself off to Belgium to see the man himself. Ten birds were purchased, an 11th was gifted to Maurice which turned out to be the nest mate of 1st International Perpignan for Jos. Maurice then purchased from Peter Fox a son of Teofilla from Peter's Marijke Vink "Tips" line. Paired with one of the original Joosen hens they turned out an absolute goldmine in One Loft Races around the globe. From the rolling hills of County Wicklow to the rolling hordes of Wilder beast on the African plains these birds have excelled.
Just some of the results achieved from this pair are:
ACE pigeon North Coast Classic
1st open Hot Spot 1 North Coast Classic. 1st open Cascade challenge 4800b Sun City Million Dollar race. 1st open Country challenge 1st open Hotspot 2, South west one loft race [Plymouth} 1st open Hotspot 3 . 1st open Hotspot 2 Emerald Classic. 2nd open, North Coast Classic final race. 2nd open French Young Bird Derby One Loft Race. 3rd open South West One Loft final race.
In 2012 Maurice set a remarkable record in the Sun City million dollar race. Entering 5 young birds from the No 1 pair they won:
8 x 1st country. 9 x 2nd country. In the international races they won 1st open, 11th open, 13th open, 56th open 61st open 66th open. Remarkably all 5 were clocked in the final race, 550 km, winning thousands of dollars in prize money. A scintillating result that will take some beating. Last year 2 nest mates were clocked to finish 44th open and 46th open, with one sold at auction for a staggering 24,000.
Apart from the success in the races, of more than equal importance to Maurice are the friendships he has made and developed with fanciers from around the globe. He now counts household names as his friends. Good friends. It is through the friendship and respect for Maurice that fanciers of the calibre of Mark Gilbert, Eamon Kelly, Crammond and Langstaff are not only sending from their best to the Irish Night with the Stars. This is the positive side of this sport and is a side I am ever willing to promote and showcase. Maurice and Martin, take a bow.
Eamon Kelly of Kelly & Lloyd - Mark Evans of the word famous Myrtle Lofts.
Gibb & Byrne King of Speed lines. - Crammon & Langstaff record breakers.
I am happy to note the growing support, and the common sense being displayed now toward flying the proposed new route across the UK to Kent and onto Ypres and Rosemont in Belgium. The option now to race 500 miles and 600 miles with all but 80 miles of it over land has many now wondering why the hell we haven’t done it before. Fanciers north of the border are now eyeing events in the IHUNFC with a view to coming on board on 2017 in a big big way. When fanciers of the caliber of Gerry and Nial O Riely and Liam McCall say this route is the future, then people sit up and take notice. My phone rings and invariably it is another fancier expressing their support. The Welch lads have been flying it for almost 20 years and claim it is the best route they have ever flown. The North Road lads, those that remain. are eyeing this route in a very serious way and it could well be a catalyst in many of them finally switching routes. The North road is dead, the corpse has been waked long enough. The lid tightened. The casket dropped into its final resting place. The fanciers throwing a fistful of clay into the pit as they file past, mournful, resigned, depressed, they pay their final respect. The graveyard is all but empty. Only the unseeing remain. The belligerent few. The enlightened have seen the difference. They've had enough of the slog.. The losses. The archaic ways.. They turn in ever growing numbers and are turn their attention, not just to the South Road, but to this new route. For once, 500 and 600 miles racing where birds and fanciers here have the same opportunity to show what they can do as fanciers and birds have in the UK. it doesn't get any better.
It's your National.
Wear it with Pride.
Fly with Distinction.
Prometheus.
