News Update - April 2014

Updates on all the local North Road news and events by Punch. E-mail: franciscorcoran@alpinelofts.net Tel: 00353 599145419
Francis Corcoran, Alpine Lofts/Aviaries, 568 Shed Road, Levitstown,Maganey, Co. Kildare, http://www.alpinelofts.net
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willie reynolds
Posts: 6785
Joined: Sun Nov 09, 2008 4:44 pm

News Update - April 2014

Post by willie reynolds »

Leinster North Road Federation 5.

Its now Wednesday evening, just two day’s before we depart on our annual trip to Belgium to see our very good friend Luc Ceulemans, we are a bit later than usual this year, as he was held up with his initial mating up time, and that has put us back a couple of weeks. Personally I don’t mind as I am not putting the young birds on the darkness system this year, having to rebuild a team after the fiasco of last season, I don’t think I have ever lost or heard of so many birds being lost as there were last year, funny thing is, there were some members of our club that after the early losses with young birds, the rest of their teams went on to complete a great young bird season for them, with very few losses later in the season, it would seem that once the birds got the hang of it, there was no losing them after that.

Joe will probably be rushing home to get his on the dark as quick as possible, although he seldom admits to having any system with his birds either young or old, that’s why our friends from Plymouth christened him no darkness Joe, after being told that he does not put his young birds on darkness, they paid him a surprise visit only to find the usual curtains, blinds and whatnot draped all over the front of the young bird compartments and the young birds inside looking like two year olds ready for the off, needless to say, he got some ribbing over that for quite some time.
Derek, well Derek is Derek, only god knows what he’ll get up to with his lot.

We are getting nearer to the start of racing now, and most will have the baskets out already, the usual suspects will have them ready on time as usual, the rest will tag along in time.

In our own club I expect to see the big five, Davy, Jimmy, JJ, Joe, & the partnership of Roly & Rocca, in no particular order, hopping off the rest of us, not to mention the sparks that will be flying between each of them, as none of them are quite able to dominate the rest, it augers well for the strength of the club, there are others on the fringes that can score in any of the races, Dwayne, Billy, Bogdan, Tony, Damien, Michael, & Archi have all been there before and along with a few others will pose a threat, if any of the top five take their eye off the ball. There may be a slight question mark hanging over the Roly & Rocca outfit, the little Italian has been up to his ears lately with business commitments and a young family to look after, and he finds it difficult to put in the time, and he is the first to admit that it takes 100% dedication to stay at the top, lucky enough, he is blessed to have a partner of the calliper of Roly Brennan, who will help see them through this rough patch.

Kilkenny club should have the likes of Holden & Flood, Conran & Cullen among others to the forefront in their club and who are also capable of taking Fed honours as well. Wexford will be fighting all the way, with the likes of Lyn Griffiths, Thomas Walsh, Anthony Thomas and Peter Doyle, have always raced well on the north road in the past, I’m looking forward to hearing the results from their PRO as soon as the racing season starts.

Enniscorty have depleted numbers this year but I am sure that those that are competing will be up there with the best of them, especially when it comes to the more important Federation races.
I know that John Dobbs has retired from most of the positions that he has held for a number of years now, and maybe that will be all he needs to motivate him for the coming season, as everyone knows, its very seldom that the officials of any organisation, do as well at racing as they should do, for most of their time and efforts are spent for the benefit of other fanciers, efforts that are not always appreciated by the rest of us, so here’s hoping that John is able to get the enjoyment out of the sport that he so richly deserves, for all his endeavours over the years on our behalf, not forgetting of course his side kick Paddy Collins, a dyed in the wool north roader and past winner of the old bird National in 2009.

Newross is a strong club, and I assume that the big hitters will be there or thereabouts again this year, Pat Ronan, Joe o Neill, Francis Kelly, John Tobin have all raced well in the past, right up to National level, there are others that can also do well, but if they don’t put in the effort that’s required to topple these guys, then we all know what happens, as there is mo mercy shown in this game.

Fethard Club will be racing with us this year for the first time, hopefully they too will appoint a PRO to submit results and information from their club as soon as or before the racing season starts. The best of luck to them anyway from all Fed members.

While speaking on the phone recently to old friend, Christy Hannigan, Carrick on Suir, he tells me he is looking forward to the new racing season, unfortunately Christy has no transport nowadays and depends on the goodwill of his fellow club mates to help him with the training of his birds, I’m sure there are plenty of willing hands in his area, as an old stager, it would be a shame to see the likes of Christy, a lifelong pigeon fancier struggling with his birds, and just to remind everyone of the work Christy has put in over the years I have included two photo’s that show Christy, sampling the beer, making sure it was safe for everyone to drink, and also another of him trying to organise the sing song, quite a job, with that lot, on our last visit to Antwerp.

Well that’s it for this week, any news , Photo’s ect. can be sent to me via e-mail to Corcoran@alpinelofts.net or Ph : 00353599145419.

Punch.

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Christy_Hannigan_Barney_Nugent_Vincent_shaw_amp_Peter_Power.

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l_Michael_Crotty_r_Christy_Hannigan.
willie reynolds
Posts: 6785
Joined: Sun Nov 09, 2008 4:44 pm

Re: News Update - April 2014

Post by willie reynolds »

Leinster North Road Federation 6

Thankfully our trip to Belgium went off without a hitch, realistically, we could have done with at least an extra day, to get around a bit more, having said that we did get all done that we had intended. It was nice to see our friend Luc again and enjoy our time with him and the family, as usual we were well looked after, the young birds we collected were as usual in good order, so lets hope all goes well with them again this year. They have settled in well with no hiccups. We had the usual ramble around the market on the Sunday, Joe likes to pick up one or two that he thinks might do the business for him when the racing comes round, Derek and I just buy a few for the craic, it really was a beautiful morning, with not too many people around, and it was a pleasure just to tip around at ones leisure.

Rest and a quick look around the lofts on the Monday, it was back to the grindstone on Tuesday morning, I gave the few cocks I have, a short toss of about 20 miles which went well, so far they don’t seem to have been bothered too much on their way home, arriving together most days. I did send out a text message to all our members on the Monday night , telling them of the situation as regards training on the N7 as published in the fancy press last weekend, unfortunately the IHU had no alternative but to issue the press release, as it has become a serious safety issue over the last number of years. It was also interesting to read the report on the new drug testing regime being implemented, in my opinion not a minute too soon. We in the Barrow Valley Club had already voted in a new policy of drug testing at our AGM in December, which is to start in 2014, now it would appear that we will be helped along the way by the IHU, justifying our decision.

A little while ago I said that I would do an article on Tony Kehoe of New Ross, having heard that he is a little under the weather of late, I decided that instead of calling on Tony to get the information I required, I have decided to use what I have to hand, which I hope will do him justice, Tony hasn’t raced for some time, but as a dedicated North Road Fancier over the years, and the amount of time and effort he put into the Eire National North Road Flying Club should not be forgotten, as it is still our premier North road organisation to this day. So here goes.

The name of Tony Kehoe New Ross has been synonymous with the Eire National north road flying club over the past 45 years. He has served as secretary for over ten years and also as the club President and committee member for several years also. In 1983 he clocked the only 3 birds in his club from the Girvan young bird National to win 1st, 2nd, 3rd, Club also 1st, 10th, & 15th Open in the National flying at 216miles. The winner was a blue cheq w/f hen, the sire was a blue cock from Marty Siggans, Lerwick hen, the dam was bred by Carl Bowe of Waterford from his Emrys Jones imports.

It was in 1953 at the age of 14 that Tony started in pigeons, he joined the Enniscorty club in 1955 and became secretary one year later. He raced with limited success with birds from local fanciers until in 1964 he purchased 4 birds from Stewart Cant, Dublin. Those turned out to be prolific breeders of winners, one became known as the goldmine pair.

At that time Tony’s younger brother Andy joined in partnership and in 1965 they raced as Kehoe bros winning the Leinster north road Fed on two occasions including from Cupar at 300 miles. In 1968 they took 5th Open from Lerwick at their first attempt with a single entry, a two year old daughter of the goldmine pair. As an aside it is interesting to note that she was jumped from Larne 165 miles into the big event from Lerwick at over 568 miles.
1969 saw the Kehoe bros take the best average all races in the Eire National Flying Club as well as many fine performances in the Federation and the Enniscorty club with such pigeons as Geisha Girl, Yanka Boy, Aladdin, Silver Spur, Sole Surviver and the Lerwick hen, sometimes having the only bird in the club on the day., or in race time.

In 1970 Tony was living in New Ross where he built himself a new loft and joined the New Ross club, at that time he took on the Secretary’s job in the Eire National, even though his wife Kathleen was a great help with the birds, he knew that the pigeons were not getting the time that they required, never the less they managed to win prizes at club, Fed, and National level, meanwhile his brother Andy was loosing interest and shortly after words retired from the partnership.
In the 1970’s Tony brought in new bloodlines from his good friends in Dromore, Pat & Ger Delaney also from Sam Halliday of Banbridge, Ken Reid of Wexford and Carl Bowe of Waterford. All of those birds left their mark in the loft over the following years.

Tony also bred many winners for other fanciers, including, Pat Ronan’s 1974 1st Open National winner and Jonny Fleming’s famous Blue hen,
“ Silk Finish” she was one of the greatest hens ever to race in the New Ross club, both of these go back to the Stewart Cant goldmine pair.

When Tony retired as the National secretary in 1979 he decided to race again under the name of Kehoe bros and try and recapture some of the glorious days of the sixties and also to get Andy going again.
In 1980 Tony took positions in three National races, 1981 he was 9th Open from Perth, 20th Open from Thurso and 2nd Open in the young bird National from Girvan only loosing on first open, by seconds after a bad trap. They were also top prize-winners in the championship club and the New Ross & district club in 1981.

In 1982 they were again top prize winners in their club, they also were twice 2nd in the championship club being beaten on decimals by club mates Paddy Murphy and Johnny Kelly.
Feeding : over the last few years, Tony has been feeding only the best Belgian mixtures as he feels that they are a truly balanced diet for the birds, Tony also said that new beginners wouldn’t go wrong if they read a few volume’s of Noel de Scheemacekers winning ways. Tony believed in training on good days only, believing that you should train but not strain the birds, the old birds are on open hole all day to fly themselves fit, and the young birds get lots of training in all directions up to 20/25 miles.

Wello that’s it for this week. Any news to Francis Corcoran@alpinelofts.net 059 91 45419

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Luc Ceulemans.

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Tony Kehoes YB National winner.

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Tony Kehoe holding his YB Nat winner 1983.
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