Noel Mullins

THE Galway Blazers have some of the very best hunting country in the world. To say it is unique is an understatement, with miles of small enclosures, resulting in often 50 stone walls to the mile and uninterrupted views of hounds hunting. To hunt with the Galway Blazers is on most hunt followers ‘bucket list’.

The followers at the meet at Cawley’s Bar in Craughwell experienced non-stop action, short circular runs following the Blazers’ bitch pack who found five foxes, almost one in every covert that they drew, and marked each one to ground.

The Blazers have made an enormous economic contribution to Co Galway, with numerous visitors coming to hunt, spend money on accommodation, meals and car hire, and many purchase horses to take home to their packs around the world.

Tom Dempsey, a science graduate, gave up life as a school teacher and opted instead to whip in to his father Michael before being appointed huntsman in 1998. He and his wife Mairead have a guesthouse, Craig House, which is popular with hunting visitors from around the globe.

Anthony Costello was standing in for whipper-in Nathan O’Connor who is recovering from a hunting accident. It was refreshing to see a whip with both fox and hound sense, as Costello demonstrated throughout the day and, as a former point-to-point jockey, he can cross the country with ease. He kept back-marker hounds on to the huntsman all day, which is the mark of a good whip.

His late father James hunted the Co Sligo and the Co Clare hounds, and I remember Anthony as a teenager whipping in to him. His sister Donna and her son Keith were at the meet, while her other son Ian was hunting.

Lauran Behan from Kildare looks after the Blazers’ hunt horses and the wall builders are Tom Joyce and Sean Feeney, while Micky Shaughnessy is the countryman. Janet Coveney has been chairman of the hunt for 15 seasons, having served as honorary secretary for 20.

Pat O’Neill was on foot, as was Liam Irwin, home from the USA having looked after the hunt horses of the Middleburg Hunt last season. Tom McNamara, who produces sport horses, was showing hunters to English buyers. His father Joe, another good horseman, trained two bullocks to pull a plough for the film King Arthur when it was filmed nearby.

Also following were Cloe Osborne, Niall Callanan, Joanna Hyland and Aaron and Jonathon Geoghegan, Neil Simpson, Gerry Monaghan, Ciaran Dunleavy and Gerry McMahon, whose son William and Grace Murphy were hunting.

Johnny Geoghegan had horses hired out to visitors Helen Van Tuyll, Michael Manning, Fleur Allton, Terry Whyte, whose father Pat was chairman of the North Galways, Marie Whyte and Jessica and Kelvin New. Geoghegan stands the stallions Ceide Prince and Spriggan at his Lisnagranchy Stud.

Joint-master Michael MacDonagh’s family Paddy, Tim and Kate were all on smashing hunters but then they produce them. Paddy is off to China shortly to sell horses. Tom and Tina Edgar were hunting, as was Trevor Adams who hunted the Duke of Buccleuch in Scotland.

Field master Kevin Dempsey, who runs a busy livery yard at Dunsandle, led the followers. Hounds had just skirted the covert behind Pat Slevin’s garage when the bitch pack opened to a crescendo of the sweetest music one ever heard.

Whipper-in Anthony Costello tracked the running pack from the left while the huntsman flanked them on the right – really textbook stuff. The fox ran by the wall on the Ballymana road but ducked underground at the back of Martin Moran’s.

Almost immediately they found again in Pat Egan’s Covert and he ran back into Martin Moran’s before turning and making a beeline for a dump of boulders in a field of kale and went to ground.

Rosie and Geraldine O’Neill were going well, as was Ian Doyle, Maria McNamara and Martin Moran. Hounds found again at the back of Pat Egan’s house, and ran into Miko Ryan’s and then left-handed through the covert in Anthony Kennedy’s. They marked him in Michael Brennan’s.

Peter and Lorraine Duggan were following their son 12-year-old James who competes in working hunter classes on his ponies. Peter looked after the Blazer’s hunt horses when Michael Dempsey was hunting hounds. He describes Dempsey as an extraordinary horseman, with a talent to cross any type of country – even the double of railway gates at the level crossing in Craughwell were no problem!

Opposite Anthony Kennedy’s farmyard hounds found a fresh fox in Molly Shaughnessey’s who ran up to the top of Kennedy’s and down the hill left-handed to the Blackgarden/Seefinn road by the ruined castle, into Paddy Keane’s and to ground in Sean Smith’s.

In the meantime the foot followers on top of Seefinn, Joe Clarke, a former Blazers whipper-in, as was his father Dan, Marie Clarke, Ann Geoghegan, Billy Shaughnessy, Sean Hession and Mattie Rabbitt had a grandstand view of three more smashing foxes who even took time to look up at the spectators.

The huntsman drew Paddy Keane’s and found another fox that they hunted around the covert for 10 minutes, but left him. Racehorse trainer Paul Gilligan was keeping an eye on his son Liam, who was riding a thoroughbred by New South Wales. However, the huntsman was far from finished, as he drew back towards the meet from Patrick Farrell’s farm in Ballymana. Farrell was a fine rugby player in his day. Finding there, hounds were away again in fine voice through Tom Ruane’s, into Monaghan’s, Anthony Kennedy’s, and Molly Shaughnessy’s and to ground in Kennedy’s.

Kilquane was blank so they hacked back to the kennels, where Declan Moran gave the huntsman a hand to feed and bed hounds down after a busy day’s hunting.