Tullamore - 08/08/09

[willie reynolds]

Record Breaking Rooneys

The East Down Combine pigeons moved on to Tullamore in Co Offaly for their fourth race of the season. Saturday morning started off dull and overcast but this began to clear as the morning wore on, and the pigeons were released in a southwesterly wind at 11.45am.

With the Dundonald club dominating the Open result and the section result showing Cloughey and Bangor featuring prominently South Down Federation members were just left with the Fed to compete for. However this result saw complete domination by one loft as K Rooney & Son took all ten positions in the Fed result. This is the first time that this has ever been achieved. We have had a couple of members taking eight positions before but this is the first time that one loft has filled all ten positions.

Before moving on to the Rooneys a quick look around the clubs sees D Croskery & Son win in Annsborough ahead of P Brown and M Croskery. A McNamara & Ptrs come out on top in Dundrum, with A Murray & Son filling the next three places. In Newcastle E & A Rogan are back in front with Dan Hillen 2nd and 3rd, while S Miligan & Dtr take the top 3 in Tyrella.

Kevin and Kristopher have had a magnificent start to the young bird season. The first race from Navan saw them take 5 positions in the Fed at 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 10th. They were also 8th, 9th, 11th and 12th section, 9th, 10th 12th and 13th Open. From the second Navan they had the first nine pigeons in their club but just failed to make the Fed result. Then from Mullingar they were 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 10th Fed, and 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th section and Open.

This has been really consistent racing from one of the leading lofts in the East Down Combine who, when they get the right wind conditions can really make it count with numerous Open wins in recent years. Kristopher has developed into a very knowledgeable young fancier and is a great asset to the partnership.

Lets have a look at the record-breaking pigeons that brought the ten positions to the Rooney lofts. The sire of their first pigeon is a direct Marijke Vink pigeon and is off a brother of ‘Tips’ and a daughter of the ‘Super 802’. The dam is also a direct Marijke Vink and is off a half brother of ‘Tips’ and a daughter of ‘Tamara’.

The sire of their second pigeon is an Ali Bros Busschaert, a son of their best racing hen, while the dam is a Janssen that bred the pigeon that was 2nd Fed in the Yearling National last year. This young bird was 5th Fed Navan.

The pigeon at 3rd Fed this week is a nest mate of today’s winner and was 3rd Fed from Navan.

Their Lindelaufs provide the breeding of the fourth pigeon. The sire is a son of ‘Assdoffer’ while the dam is a previous winner of the Fed’s Old Bird of the Year award and has turned out to be Kevin and Kristopher’s best breeding hen this past couple of years.
The sire of the pigeon at 5th Fed is a direct Janssen that has bred many prizewinners. The dam is a Van Wildermeersch that has also bred many prizewinners, so a great combination.

The 6th pigeon is another Lindelauf. The sire is a full brother of ‘Miss World’, Lindelauf’s last National winner. The dam is a full sister of the pigeon that was 2nd National racing against 130,000 pigeons. One similarly bred to this was 2nd Fed, 9th Open from Navan.

The pigeon taking 7th Fed is a Gus Janssen from a pair that has bred some good prizewinners.

Kevin and Kristopher’s eighth pigeon is a Busschaert from birds obtained from D Shields, Cragshead.
The pigeon at 9th Fed is another direct Marijke Vink. The sire of this one is a son of ‘Farah Diba’ while the dam is ‘Kleine Diba’.
The result is completed by another from their Lindelauf pigeons. The sire is a son of ‘Hercules’ while the dam is a half sister of ‘Wonderboy’. A young bird the same way bred as this was 4th Fed Navan.

Full Result: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 K Rooney & Son Annalong 1719, 1718, 1716.81, 1716.81, 1709, 1708, 1707.82, 1707.52, 1707.23, 1707.23; S Foster & Connor Dundrum 1666 ABCD; M Croskery Annsborough 1632 ABCDNom; R McDowell & Son Annsborough 1618 ABCD:

• Semi Final Draw for Loft KO to be flown this week from Mallow; 1, M Croskery v A Murray & Son; 2, S Milligan & Dtr v K Rooney & Son. The final will be from 2nd Nenagh

• Pool race this week from Mallow.

Brendan McLoughlin PO.