The Golden Vale Foxhounds’ annual meet is located between Roscrea and Borris-in-Ossory.

Hunting is almost a religion in this part of Tipperary, with six packs of hounds all within easy reach of each other. With heavy rain having fallen, there were lakes where there never had been before and rivers swollen to bursting point, but this did not deter 50 or so riders gathering at Knock Inn.

Joint-master and huntsman Michael Comerford, now in his fourth season, had 12½ couple of homebred hounds ready for action with his amateur whips Michael Sheehan and Owen Mockler. Comerford comes from Ballacolla in neighbouring Co Laois where he runs a horse yard specialising in producing show cobs. He started his career as a farrier, but soon found he preferred being on a horse’s back rather than shoeing it.

Riding a second season horse by Mountain Pearl, he really looked the part, but admitted that his mount might be just a bit short on experience, especially for a huntsman.

His joint-master Pat Lyons had no such reservations. A master since 1993, he was riding a confident bay who looked as if he could go around himself. Pat, who on non-hunting days runs a tyre business in Thurles, never misses a day with the Golden Vales, as well as hunting midweek with the neighbouring Tipperarys.

Making up the team was Mattie Maher from Horse And Jockey who has been in office since before records began. Mattie is one of the founder members of the modern Golden Vales, founded in 1975 by that great cattle man Michael Purcell from Thurles and Tim Hyde from Camas Park near Cashel.

They hunt a country from the Devil’s Bit to Horse and Jockey, the heart of the famed Golden Vale farming country which is appropriate as they are primarily a farmer’s hunt.

With Maher’s good chesnut hunter now retired, he was on a nice grey owned by local area manager Shay Foley. Maher hosts the very successful hunter trials each year at his farm near Horse And Jockey and his family was further represented by his son Philip, who was acting as field-master. As well as farming, Philip works with Liam Kearney from Littleton who is joint-master of the adjoining Tipperary Foxhounds.

GORSE COVERT

Hounds moved off to the first draw near Knock village in Pat Carey’s nice gorse covert and spoke almost immediately. Our pilot emerged more than once only to return to the gorse and was eventually marked to ground.

Pressing on, hounds went on to draw near Springfield House Stud, sponsors of the local hurling team. Without any definitive coverts, hounds drew on and we had some fine jumping over a bit of old country.

Pat Hanly, who whipped to the Golden Vale in the early days and before that was first jockey to the Willie O’Grady stable, brought a large group of foot followers to a particularly decent bank. He now runs a livery yard near Killenaule and had several horses in the field, including one ridden by his daughter Cynthia.

Foot followers had a good wait to see the field jump what could only be described as a yawner. A small bank led to a minor canal and with almost sheer sides, it took a bit of jumping. The spotters came first, led by Brian Davis who went for a swim. Undaunted, a very wet jockey was reunited with his horse and continued.

The two whips gave a particularly good display and were foot-perfect. The huntsman’s horse showed his lack of experience and struggled momentarily, but continued unscathed. A fine display was given by Fiacre Purcell from Thurles who made it look easy.

As more jumped, the take off got very slippery and became something of a war of attrition, but with surprisingly few fallers. The father and daughter team of John and Sarah Davis, visiting from Mountrath, came out with a clear round, as did brother and sister Tom and Gillian Beechinor who were visiting from the South Union.

Crossing the road, hounds drew on towards the River Nore and the new wind farm under construction. It wasn’t long before a homebred hound Marble, who is three-quarter bloodhound, opened on a fine dog fox and the pack rallied to him almost instantly. He was viewed away by joint-master Pat Lyons, who has the knack of usually being in the right place at the right time.

With scent improving all the time, hounds pressed their fox and without hesitation he made for the river. With hunt staff and the field on hand, hounds swam the river and hunted their fox on. The field was faced with a dilemma as the river at that point wasn’t crossable and alternate routes would have involved long detours. However, the matter resolved itself as hounds marked their fox and swam back across to their waiting huntsman.

Drawing on through the bog land, the field had some fine jumping, especially over a good stiff post and rail. Coming towards the road on Liam Cahill’s farm, riders were spoiled for choice over a series of hunt jumps before crossing to draw some woodland which was surprisingly blank.

The next draw was at the far side of the motorway in Owen Brennan’s land. His daughter Karen was out hunting. This covert was particularly thick and almost impenetrable and hounds took quite a while to find.

However, the wait was worth it as hounds spoke. Our pilot sat on a wall quite unconcernedly for what appeared like minutes as he decided his best course of action as hounds hunted in the adjoining covert. Unhurriedly, he popped off the wall and took hounds and the remaining field for a nice spin, returning almost to the very same spot.

Light had almost completely disappeared and our huntsman gathered his hounds as quickly as he could before they disappeared into the gloom.