WHEN hunting in Co Meath, you are never far away from people with a passion for Gaelic football, and public houses usually have their walls adorned with club and county memorabilia, and indeed hunt photos and local racehorses that made good. It was such at The Tara Harriers meet at Dee Local Pub in Nobber where publican Dudley Farrell now gives his time to Meath football in an official capacity in the hope that they can relive some of their glory days when legends like Mick Lyons, Colm O’Rourke, Pat ‘Red’ Collier took home the Sam Maguire Cup. But the Meath Ladies won the Intermediate Camogie All Ireland last year with Amy Gaffney, Megan Thynne and Eillen Burke who kept the Meath flag flying.

Dudley’s son Brian, a senior Meath player, and a winner of a Leinster and All Ireland Junior Football Championships, is an accountant by profession but also assists his father in the bar which prompted a local newspaper to headline that Brian was swapping, ‘scoring points for serving pints’. His father took over the pub from the late Shane McEntee, former Minister of State for Food, Horticulture and Food Safety. Shane was a useful footballer himself before injury halted his career and he trained the Meath Minor Football Team. I met Shane a few times when he stood four square with the hunting community when the Green Party ran a campaign to stop the Ward Union Staghounds from hunting. Shane made himself and his contacts in politics available, and he spoke knowledgably at many of the RISE meetings. He knew that like the GAA, hunting in Ireland has its roots in the parish, based in the community, which supports businesses in the community. McEntee’s daughter Helen succeeded him into politics serving as Minister of State for European Affairs and more recently Health.

Nobber is famous also for the blind harpist Turlough O’Carolin (1670-1723) who was both a singer and composer, who had a reputation for melodic composition, and they have a festival in his honour each year.

Dudley had the kettle on preparing ‘Jumping Juice’ in the order of hot ports for some of the followers, while for others, coffee was the order of the day. Joint-masters Henry Smith and Oinri Jackson were there early and were generous hosts. Some of the masters including Neville Jessop, Bryan Maher, Lorraine McDowell and Lar Sheeran were away with other commitments. Kevin Rennex was helping Peter King and Sabine Dowdall with whipping-in duties. Peter has decided to sell his dun 15hh Connemara Pony that has showjumped and hunted, no doubt a smashing addition to somebody’s yard. Sabine Dowdall is one of the few ladies working as hunt staff, and comes from a fine hunting tradition as her late father Terry a very popular man also hunted the pack. She turns out a smashing pack of hounds for each meet and organises a lot of the hunting country. She was riding a nice six-year-old chesnut rather like her last hunter that she purchased after a seasons hunting from Thomas Tuite. Also hunting were Ann McParland, Joe McCarthy and Peter Daly.

The pack passed The Moate of Nobber and over the old railway line on their way to the first draw in the spectacular Brittas Estate, the stately home owned by two of the joint-masters Oinri Jackson and Neville Jessop. It was originally the home of the Bligh family who were a naval family whose best known family member is Captain Bligh of the Mutiny of the Bounty, who, on April 28th 1789 in the South Pacific, had his boat was cut adrift by the mutineers. But Bligh was trained by Captain Cook and successfully navigated his boat and 18 crew 3,000 miles to safety on the Indonesian island of Timor.

Brittas also hosted one of the largest turnout of side saddle ladies hunters in 2013. Lime trees on the estate are imaginatively planted in battle formation to celebrate battles like Fountenoy and Cherbourg in the 1700s and designed by Sir Francis Johnson who designed the GPO in Dublin. It’s very much a working farm with Galloway cattle, sheep and poultry as well as horses particularly Oinri and Neville’s hunters, some by Jack Lambert’s great Irish Draught stallion Grange Bouncer, and his sons Moylough Bouncer, and Clew Bay Bouncer. Oinri has opened up quite a lot of new country for the Nobber meet.

Hounds drew down the side of Brittas Estate along the banks of the Dee River where they found and hunted on across the river to Johnny Shankey’s of Muff and were busy until they marked him to ground.

Brothers Willie and Michael McAteer, who is a well-known farrier, was riding like a flat jockey as he had borrowed his son Ben’s cob! There was some tidy jumping onto the lane by the masters Henry Smith, Oinri Jackson, and whippers-in Sabine Dowdall, Peter King, Lisa McDowell, Kevin Brennan, and Leslie de la Cauw who has hunted with most of the packs in the area but also hunts with his home packs, the Triple B Hunt, and the Drags des Grand Royal in Bruges in Western Flanders in Belgium. Amateur photographer Ciara Finnegan (11) was on hand to capture the important moments of the day.

The next block is farmed by Dominick Horgan which was once owned by Lord Gormanstown who built Whitewood House as a hunting lodge. He was a cousin of the Prestons who were founders of the Tara Harriers, known at the time as the Bellinter Harriers. Interestingly the Horgan family originally from County Cork came to work for Lord Gormanstown at the early part of the 20th century, and ended up owning the estate. The hunt made a magnificent sight from the far banks of Whitewood Lake which is reputed to have its own monster lurking in the deep was like a sheet of glass with the main house now occupied by David Horgan, an imposing sight on top of the hill. Hounds were in fine voice hunting down by the woods on the shoreline, and across the old railway line where they marked to ground again.

It was great to see so many hares in Brian Garvey’s, but the pack were more interested in a brace of foxes on the hill. But while hounds were able to hunt in cover, scent was almost non-existent in the open. One fox left the covert and ran across the valley to the Ring Fort while the other ran left-handed and was marked away by Larry Cunningham. However the former Meath bitch Favour feathered up the line, and when she got to the ditch in front of an Office of Public Works excavator, driven by Barry Fay, she picked it up again and was able to hold it in the rushes, but when they got out in the open, lost it.

The hunt crossed the road into Brian Garvey’s Rathe House and Equestrian Centre spread over 600 acres where David Patton of Balrath had a unscheduled dismount at a cross-country fence, but many others had wobbles also. Colm Kennedy and Willie Smith who has produced many good hunters in his time were faultless. Hounds found in the back wood and had a slow hunt before scent improved and then the tempo picked up as the pack hunted strongly across Harry Liscombe’s and across the road into Tom McAteer’s whose daughter Emily hunts. His two nephews Liam and Michael were hunting on the day.

Hounds hunted strong through College Proteins – who process the fallen stock collected by hunt knackeries around the country – which is owned by John and Martin Gilroy. Martin is a keen hunt follower but had business commitments on the day. After a good run hounds checked in near darkness quite a distance from the meet.

For a change it was a dry day, in magnificent countryside, and drumlins that make for perfect viewing of hunting, particularly around Whitewood Lake with its abundance of wildlife.

The perfect therapy. What more does anybody need?

HISTORY

THE hunt was founded about 1760 by Lord Tara and was known as the Bellinter Harriers. John Preston, the last Lord Tara, died in 1870 and left the pack to GV Briscoe when it was renamed The Tara Harriers.

THE TARA HARRIERS

Chairman: Henry Smith

Masters: Henry Smith, Oinri Jackson, Neville Jessop, Lorraine McDowell, Bryan Maher and Lar Sheeran

Huntsman: Henry Smith

Whipper-in: Sabine Dowdall (kennel huntsman) and Peter King (honorary)