THE month of November is traditionally associated with pilgrimages so we thought it might be appropriate to make a pilgrimage to Knock, no not Knock Co Mayo but to the no less venerable village of Knock in the North Riding of Tipperary. This pilgrimage was of a hunting nature, to have a day with Seamus O’Dwyer and the Suir Vale Harriers from their meet at the aforementioned village. For those who have not visited Knock, it is located just off the M7 near Roscrea and right beside the huge wind farm.

Knock is really a one-horse town with one church and, fortunately, a functioning pub, The Knock Inn, which as well as being open appears to be thriving. If one were unlucky enough to get broken down for an extended period anywhere between Dublin and Limerick let it be near Knock because it would be hard to find a more pleasant spot to while away a few hours.

Sadly, a few hours were not available but merely a brief interlude while hounds were being unboxed and general plans laid for a successful day’s hunting. One of our more recent packs, the Suir Vale were only recognised in 2004 having spun off from the Golden Vale Foxhounds who in turn are hunting country once hunted by the Tipperary Foxhounds. The driving force has been Seamus O’Dwyer, a dyed in the wool hound man, who comes from Upperchuch, not too far from the very sporting town of Thurles.

Seamus is very much the man that matters, founding master and huntsman. When not hunting hounds, he is a public servant as well as running a suckler farm.

His aide de camp, kennel huntsman and first whipper-in, Emma Ryan was not riding on the day though out on foot and holding a watching brief. She had reluctantly surrendered her good grey to Seamus but with firm riding instructions. A competent rider but a consummate hound person, Emma can identify a hound three fields away and its pedigree trips off her tongue at will. Her role in the field was being filled by JJ Kinane whose family have a long association with the hunt as his uncle Peter Kinane was the hunt’s first KH.

Ranks were somewhat depleted on two grounds. Their point-to-point at Knockinroe near Horse and Jockey was imminent and many senior members were working on the course. The meeting turned out to be very successful with The Irish Field champion rider Barry O’Neil from Wexford having a brace of winners. It was very much a champion riders day as second in the title list Jamie Codd came away as a winner on the very promising mare Freeway Space.

BRITISH TRIP

In addition, the hunt had just returned form its annual visit to hunt with the Albrighton and the Nth Shropshire in Britain. By all accounts, a great time was had by all with about 10 horses and jockeys travelling and as many more camp followers. Their annual British visit is much looked forward to by those who travel but even more so by the licensed trade in Shropshire! Among those who travelled were field-master Raymond Burke, David Moore, JJ Kinane, hunt chairman Tom Joe Spillane and Daniel Bergin who is a farrier to the mighty Coolmore. Tom Tynan (a retired Garda driving instructor) and his wife also travelled as non-riding captain.

Field-master on the day (and every day) Raymond Burke, with a red armband to prove it, on his fifth season and bombproof bay who has never been known to put a foot wrong. Visiting from nearby Laois was Vincent Neville with young Christopher, a fine young huntsman in the making. Also from Laois was young Jock Thompson taking a well-deserved day off from studying for his Leaving Cert at Kilkenny College where he is a student. Jock is a rising star in the polo world where his dad David is a leading producer of polo ponies. David hunted the Laois up to last season and the North Kilkenny previous to that. In addition there were two Scottish girls out to see what natural hunting was really like without the constraints of the UK Hunting Act.

Area manager for the day was Fergus Ryan who, through his work as a water pump engineer, would have daily contact with dairy farmers in the area. The importance of a good area manager who is in tune with farmers and landowners in the area cannot be over emphasised.

The first draw was just a short hack away at Rock Forest which is divided by the river Nore. The Nore which runs deep and wide would be a formidable obstacle for all but the best swimmers. The river valley which runs right over to the M7 and stretches well into Co Laois is well wooded with plenty of rough cover. The 12 and a half couple of Old English did not have too long to wait before they found in Liam White’s plantation. Reynard showed no great enthusiasm for open country and went from cover to plantation and back again between McDermott’s and Carey’s. It soon became obvious why he was reluctant to leave as he found a welcoming shore and was marked to ground.

DASH

There was still plenty draw along the banks of the Nore and hounds pressed on to find again in Liam Cahill’s cover. He was spotted slipping away by acting whipper-in JJ Kinane who was on point and hounds were quickly on. A nice dash ensued with some good jumping over hedges and open trenches. However with scent never better than fair he was eventually lost. They then crossed back over the road to draw some conifer plantation but it was blank.

With seasonally short days and a 12 o’clock start, the day was well progressed when our huntsman took hounds under the motorway to draw Timoney Avenue which leads to Browne’s Timoney Lodge. Hounds drew Cullain wood and found quickly running towards Willie St Ledgers before kicking on to John Ryan’s then running through Sheehy’s big covert. Our pilot knew where he was going and pressed on by the standing stones before swinging left-handed and to ground in John Kelly’s.

With shadows lengthening, huntsman blew for home and hacked back to a warm welcome at the Knock Inn.

FACTFILE

Kennels: Rossmult, Drombane, Thurles, Co. Tipperary

Chairman: Tom Joe Spillane

Master: Seamus O’Dwyer

Secretary: Tom Tynan, telephone 086-8817192

Point-to-point secretary: Tom Tynan

Huntsman: Seamus O’Dwyer

Whipper-in: Emma Ryan

Country hunted: Mid and part of North Tipperary, mostly banks and ditches

HISTORY

Formed in 1992, recognised by Irish Masters of Harriers Association in 2004.

Meets: Sunday 12 noon, Wednesday 12 noon (from January)

Visitors: By arrangement.

Affiliated to: IMHA.