History

The hunt was formed about 1735 by the Sherbourne family at Loughcrew and was renamed the Ballymacad Foxhounds in 1797.

Hunt details

Chairman: Ken Farrelly

Joint Masters: Brendan Cosgrove, Garry O’Neill, Martin Farrell and Michael Bevan

Huntsman: Kevin Donohue

Whippers-In: Maurice Quinn, Mark Casserly and Jamie Kelleghan

Field Masters: Ken Farrelly and Glenn Farrell Walker

Honorary Secretary: Rachel Gilsenan

Honorary Treasurer: Eileen Farrelly

Kennelman and Countryman: Garry Kelly

Visitors are welcome by arrangement.

WHAT a day’s hunting, with non-stop action and a huntsman and pack of hounds in complete harmony and on song at Mountnugent. Then every day in Ballymacad hunt country is a special experience, as they have a unique hunt country that serves up every type of challenge with no motorways, and skilful riders mounted on the very best of Traditional Irish horsepower. What makes it extra special is their huntsman Kevin Donohue, who is 27 seasons hunting hounds and is still as keen as the first day he took over the pack from his father, Barry. They are also a hunt that care about their community. The late master Thosh Kellett, still sadly missed, told me one time that the hunt staff attend more occasions in the hunt area than any politician.

In the last few years alone, they have raised and donated €215,000 to causes such as local schools, Cancer Care, Tidy Towns, Palliative Care, Active Retirement, Meals on Wheels, Special Olympics, GAA Clubs, Alzheimer’s, Motor Neurone Disease and to many families that have run into hardship through illnesses.

As you cross the hill of Slieve na Callaigh (The Hill of the Hag) to Oldcastle, the country opens up in front of you, and they say you can see seven counties in a 360-degree panoramic vista. You pass Loughcrew, famous for the Megalithic Passage Grave scene of the Summer Solstice on the hill, and beside it is the huge stone Hags Chair dating to 4,200 BC.

The meet was at The Bridge Inn, known locally as The Bridge House, in Mountnugent, which is owned by Ralph McEnroe and was established in 1853. It is a quaint old pub themed on angling, as it is beside Lough Sheelan and the River Inny, and they maintain that there is a lake for every day of the year in County Cavan. The Ballymacad countryside is magnificent and is hunting’s best kept secret, as it is so picturesque with historic landmarks, valleys, hills, bogs, parkland, and clumps of furze on the hillsides, ideal snug homes for wildlife.

Horse production

It takes a versatile horse to cross the Ballymacad hunt country, capable of crossing drains, hedges, ditches, wire, banks and stone walls, often in the same day, so many are produced by followers of the hunt. Made hunters are worth every penny, as they give you years of pleasure, and cheap horses not properly made only lead to frustration. Remarkably, there is no shortage of skilled producers in the Ballymacad Hunt country, producing top-class hunters and eventers capable of tackling any hunt country, and matching riders with suitable horses.

The huntsman, Kevin Donohue, is a brand name for made hunters and eventers through Donohue Sport Horses. Every day, he will have a number of horses out furthering their educations, being patiently brought on by his riders, like Declan O’Reilly. Many of them are destined for overseas. Glenn Farrell Walker is another brand through GFW Sporthorses, and he had a few young hunters out, with Grace Lumley bringing them on. After the hunting season, Glenn switches to producing show jumpers.

Irish Draught breeder Gael Jauvert and Mary Jane Roberts at the Ballymacad Foxhounds meet at Mountnugent \ Noel Mullins

Gael and Kelda Jauvert of Skyhigh Stud also breed and produce Irish Draught horses. Gael was busy filming the hunt with a body cam and riding his regular Irish Draught hunter Skyhigh Emperor. Colin Halpin was riding a four-year-old Irish Draught on only his second day hunting, that in time will be very marketable. The hunt members buy from each other, as the huntsman’s horse Yogi, a smashing chesnut Irish Draught that you could easily mistake for a ¾ bred, was produced by former eventer and point-to-point rider Mary Jane Roberts. Field master Ken Farrelly also produces hunters, combining his hunting with hunter production.

Masters and Hunt staff

To keep up this high standard of hunting, it takes a team, supported by the joint masters Brendan Cosgrove, Martin Farrell, Garry O’Neill and Michael Bevan. I have been privileged to follow huntsmen on three continents and Kevin Donoghue is at the top table, in both hunting hounds and as a superb rider across challenging country. If you want to see top-class whipping in, it’s worth watching Maurice Quinn, Mark Casserly and Jamie Kelleghan, but former whipper-in Bobby Kellett, who retired after over 40 seasons, is still sadly missed. The ever-enthusiastic Garry Kelly looks after the country and Megan Jerrard, and the huntsman’s wife Joanne and daughter Aoibhinn, turn the horses out to show-quality standard.

Honorary secretary Rachel Gilsenan is the super administrator, who does sterling work in maintaining communication with all the members about events and any changes to hunting arrangements. She is an able innovator of fresh ideas for events and fundraisers. They host a Hunter Performance Show, the Thosh Kellett Memorial Shoot at the Virginia Park Lodge with a game dinner, two Point-to-Points, Children’s Meets and a Hunt Clinic on horsemanship and hunting Etiquette. They will also host a Ladies’ Meet, following on from the success of last year’s one, on February 12th, 2026, in Ballinlough Village, which can be booked online.

Followers

On horseback were Gael Jauvert, field master Glenn Farrell Walker, Grace Lumley, Mary Jane Roberts, Aoibhinn Donoghue, Majella Dudley-Purcell, Sharleen Murray and Claudia Rose Ormiston. Also following were Audrey Purcell, Colin Halpin who was on gates, Eliza Lapsley, Lorcan Farrell, Lucas Neville, Stephen McKenna, Fiona Dillon, Kate Hyland and her mother Sinead, who host a meet at their home in Oldcastle. Others included Miriam Cunning, a producer of eventers and show horses, amongst them the four-star eventer Sugar Brown Babe and Sugar Bunnie, who were ridden by Sarah Ennis, and the Supreme Champion Hunter at The Dublin Horse Show, Sugar Bob. Martin Smith was over from the Westmeaths, and James Murphy, Dara Clinton and Richard Bevan, who hunted with the Fermanagh, Ballymacads and the Cappenberger Schleppjajdverein in Germany, and his wife Kitty, who hunted with the North Tipperary.

Hunting

As the huntsman moved off from the village, Nobby Halpin and Brendan Tully deployed their wheelie bin and brushes to make sure the streets were left clean and tidy. The first draw was the furze on the side of the hill in Aughamowan, but there was nobody at home. After jumping the first ditch, hounds were sent on to draw Pallas Mount, and Mark Casserly viewed a fox away. The huntsman laid on the pack and the followers had a good pipe opener before he was marked to ground.

At Barconi, the pack were away hard on another fox, which they found in the woods. Even though the wind was strong, they stuck to their task and the followers were spoiled for choice as drains, banks and stone walls come up thick and fast before hounds marked him as well. Dungimmon Bog was next on the list and hounds were on song, hunting in cover, but this fellow got headed and was slow to leave, so after 20 minutes of top-class hunting in cover, he sought safety underground. The huntsman and pack were far from finished though, finding on the way to the Old Dump, and hounds had a 20-minute very accurate circular run in strong wind, ending in marking to ground.

They found yet again in the Dump and he circled and was marked to ground two fields away. Meanwhile, another fox left on the other side, and hounds were away again. This time, the followers had to negotiate a succession of good hedge jumping, before hounds marked this fellow also.

Although the followers had been on the go from the second covert, there was no rest as the huntsman drew the marein ditch between Kathleen Boylan’s farm and field master Ken Farrelly’s farm, when hounds were on song for a blistering straight run, and they marked this fellow to ground as light was fading after 4.30pm.

What a cracking day’s hunting!