Skibbereen - 15/05/10

[willie reynolds]

SOUTH DOWN FEDERATION with Brendan McLoughlin

The Magical Maguire

The East Down Combine pigeons were in Skibbereen on Saturday 15th May for their first major race of the season, the Joe Ringland Classic. With a west, southwesterly wind forecast there was a certain degree of optimism among South Down Fed members and the Saturday morning saw the wind turn out as predicted. However while South Down members took quite a few section and Open positions they weren’t able to produce an Open winner on this occasion, with the top Open position going to Cloughey’s E & D Harper & Sons, closely followed by Dundonald’s Mark Foulis.

The winner of the South Down Federation this week is the irrepressible Noel Maguire, Annsborough. Noel is having a dream season having taken 5th Open the previous two weeks. It is with the same pigeon that he wins with this week taking 8th section, 15th Open. This is a remarkable pigeon to take three such good Open positions in a row. The breeding is Van Rijn from Bob McMeekin.
Noel had two pigeons in the race and his second bird was 8th Fed, 19th section, 32nd Open and is another Van Rijn yearling hen from Bob McMeekin. This bird was 4th Fed, 8th Open from Tullamore. These pigeons have really given Noel a lot of fun and enjoyment this year.

D Croskery & Son Annsborough is second and third Fed this week with the first of these taking 9th section, 18th Open, while their second bird is 12th section, 23rd Open, winning £120. The first bird is the yearling hen that was 2nd club, 4th Fed from Mullingar. The pigeon timed here is out of their main stock lines, being a De Klak x Wily Thas cross. Their second pigeon is a two-year-old cock that is a son of the famous ‘pool’ cock. This bird has had seven club prizes and five Fed prizes to date.

Fourth Fed this week goes to Annsborough’s R McDowell & Son who take 14th section, 26th Open winning £69.85. The McDowell loft is having another consistent season with some good Fed positions. This bird is a son of a cock obtained from Joe McGreevy, Crossgar, while the dam is from Billy Lecky. These birds have been performing well for Robert.

R J Keown Annsborough is also having a steady start to the season and is 5th and 10th Fed this week. The first of these is 15th section, 27th Open. This bird was 10th Fed from Tullamore and is a Joop Jongue x Steenhaut with the dam being a daughter of ‘Oscar’. RJ’s second bird this week was his first bird from the same Tullamore when it was 5th Fed, 6th section and 9th Open and is a yearling hen, which is ¾ Roland Janssen x Steenhaut.

Annalong’s K Rooney & Son have two birds in the Fed result this week again having been 8th and 9th Fed last week. Indeed they are the same two pigeons and have arrived together two weeks in a row. Their first pigeon is 6th Fed, 16th section, 29th Open and is a two-year-old Soontjens cock. This bird goes on to take 3 club wins in a row by winning from Fermoy again on Saturday. Their second pigeon is a yearling Cooremans hen that has had four previous Fed positions and three Open positions including 16th section, 40th Open 1st Fermoy.

The result is completed by Annsborough’s Mickey Croskery at 7th Fed. This bird is also 18th section, 31st open and is the same bird that topped the Fed from the 1st Mount Charles. ‘Joe 90’ was 2nd Open Bude in 2008, on a day when Mickey had 8 pigeons in the Fed, section and Open results. This bird was unraced last year having damaged his wing. The breeding is De Klak and Janus & Fox, with the sire being a son of the ‘Provence’ cock.

Full Result: 1, N Maguire Annsborough 1600; 2, 3, D Croskery & Son Annsborough 1596, 1593; 4, R McDowell & Son Annsborough 1589; 5, R J Keown Annsborough 1586; 6, K Rooney & Son Annalong 1583 Nom £46; 7, M Croskery Annsborough 1582.51; 8, N Maguire 1582.47; 9, K Rooney & Son 1582.38; 10, R J Keown 1581.90:

• Pools this week from Talbenny

• Draw for Quarter Final of Loft KO: Mr & Mrs Irvine v W Hardy & Son; A Murray & Son v M Croskery; N Maguire v J Cleland; P Brown v K Rooney & Son: