Dickie Power

THE Duhallow Foxhounds, I was reliably informed, have been enjoying a purple patch since Christmas with red letter days being the norm. They had, what many cognoscenti claimed, to be the best day ever from a meet at Dromina and, since Freemount was the neighbouring village, anything was possible on the day I visited.

Boxes were parked at the local community centre and it was something of a confidence builder to see so many friendly and familiar faces on arrival. No meet of the Duhallow would be complete without former master Maurice O’Connor and his wife Rosemary, whom I last met hunting on a very wet day with the West Waterford. She was on her reliable as clockwork bay but sadly her husband, after many years crossing Duhallow with distinction, has been relegated to the bench.

Socialising had to be put aside as huntsmen Ger Withers enlarged 16 and a half couple of as evenly-matched pack of Old English as you could find. When the Duhallow committee needed a huntsman to replace Michael Buckley, they didn’t look beyond the home parish of Liscarrol. Ger Withers had been whipper-in for eight seasons, having been reared with the cry of Duhallow kennels in his ears.

He is in his eighth season as huntsman and is looked on by his peers as one of the leading professionals in the country. Almost every parish in north Cork has its own pack of hounds, mostly trencher fed and hunted on foot, but among these parish packs Duhallow Foxhounds is looked on as the gold standard.

Unusually for a premier pack, all the Duhallow whippers-in are amateur but, coming from a hunting tradition, they have learned their trade at their mothers’ knees. Acting on the day were Kanturk native Paul Buckley, who works in the motor trade, and Timmy Brosnan, who admits to hunting three days a week, two with Duhallow and one more with the Liscarrol Harriers, of whom he is former huntsman. Whatever time is left he gives over to running his dairy farm.

The team is completed by Finbar Feehan from Freemount who is an AI technician and farmer. His younger brother Brian was out on foot and acting as countryman and crossed more country at speed than any of the mounted field. Finbar is the current huntsman of the Liscarrol and is the rising star of the Duhallow team.

Chairman Pat Fleming from Liscarrol had told me Freemount was not one of their fashionable meets but the upside of this was that the field would be smaller and it would afford more opportunity to watch hounds work. So it proved, with a field of about 30, every one of them dedicated to hunting.

The move off was prompt and the first draw was near the village overlooking the Allow river, which with its sister, the Dallow, conspire to give their name to the barony of Duhallow and the hunt of the same name.

We watched from the brow of a hill as hounds drew the river bank and all too quickly we heard the famous Duhallow cry as hounds opened. The field was straining at the leash and had to be restrained by acting field master Roger Kiely on a smashing grey he was bringing on for joint master Kate Jarvey.

Despite the fact she started the season with six hunters, she was down to one fit horse which was being kept for later in the week, resulting in her absence on the day. This reflects the season she has enjoyed with both her packs, the Scarteen and Duhallow. Also missing were the two other joint-masters, Rory O’Brien and Matt Nagle.

Our pilot was viewed away by Col Pat Coleman, hunt secretary since 1989, who has been hunting with Duhallow for 50 seasons but still crosses the country with the dash and enthusiasm of a subaltern. All the military campaigns he has been involved, ranging from Lebanon to Kosovo, have been waged during the off season. Riding a nice bay who was bought originally for his wife Bets, the Duhallow point-to-point secretary, but passed on to him. Like all Coleman horses, he was foot-perfect all day.

Scent was patchy but hounds stuck like leeches to the line and we crossed a smashing bit of old country. Almost our first fence was in Glen Knipe’s farm, a bank which would not be out of place in the famed Athlacca ride.

Knipe, who moved to Duhallow some years ago from Co Down, was out himself on a young horse. Here one of two visitors from the Heythrop came a cropper but got back up as if nothing had happened. This pair of sporting sisters had come for a three-day hunting holiday with the Kilkenny, Duhallow and Scarteen where I met them again. They went back home having had the time of their lives and are determined to return next season.

As well as allowing our English friends to see hunting and the Irish horse at its best, it is a form of tourism in the off-season which brings money right into rural Ireland where it is badly needed. Their trip had been arranged by Mike and Grichi McEwan from Tramore. Mike wrote the great hunt history, The Ryan Family, an account of the Ryan family and the Scarteen Hunt.

Hounds checked briefly in a plantation before pressing on towards the next road. As we galloped down a farm road still frozen, I was tracking young Clody O’Connor on her good cob. On one particular glacier her cob started a dramatic skid with legs in all directions but was it was well sat by O’Connor who stayed in the plate. She has just returned from New Zealand where she was managing a 350-cow herd and is now working on her family dairy farm near Lismire.

As we crossed the Dromcollogher road our fox was marked to ground and given best.

Going well throughout was Janet Bourke on a smashing batty. She is the partner of Alex Ott, who is still in hospital recovering from a very serious fall before Christmas. She and Alex have four children and run the Valley View Riding Centre in Weelin. The hunting fraternity, particularly in Cork, has embarked on a major fundraising drive to help with medical and other expenses which will be considerable. Those who would like to make a contribution to the fund should contact Pat Coleman on 087-2110525.

By now happily thawed out, we hacked on through the village and hounds drew a small covert near the church. Almost immediately first season litter siblings Treason and Tracer (by Duhallow Trooper 07) opened and a dog fox was away.

Here the fun started as the bank off the road was as narrow as a scalpel with a good trench to the rear. The first victim was Finbarr Feehan, only to be followed by meet manager Tadhg Egan, whose horse turned upside down and remained thus for quite a while.

Happily I tucked in behind Diana McLernon on her quality chesnut who perched on the bank as delicately as a sparrow on a clothes line. A sister to leading NH jockey Richard McLernon, she and her horse gave a peach of a pop over the obstacle and my horse followed suit.

In a way history was repeating itself as I took many a lead in the past from her mother Betty, a sister to leading NH jockey Tommy Carmody, with the Limerick Harriers.

With hounds absolutely flying we ran on by Maddens Glen but our pilot wasn’t given the opportunity to linger as we pressed on over some smashing country. All too soon, as we ran back towards the village, hounds marked to ground.

Little remained but a wash in the Allow which runs by the village. During the day my photographer was kept in the right place, refreshed and entertained by Maurice O’Connor and Betty and Philip McLernon who know the country like the back of their hands.

FACTFILE

Chairman: Pat Fleming

Joint-master: Kate Jarvey, Rory O’Brien and Matt Nagle

Joint-secretaries: Col Pat Coleman and David O’Meara

Point-to-point secretary: Bets Coleman

Field master: Maurice Coleman

Huntsman: Gerard Withers

Whippers-in: Tim Brosnan, Arthur Comyn and Paul Buckley

HISTORY

The Duhallow Foxhounds have been hunting north Cork from the Kerry border to Doneraile continuously since 1745, making it the oldest foxhound pack in the country. In the intervening years it has played host to the birth of National Hunt racing and produced some of the most remarkable horsemen from Capt. Beecher of Beecher’s Brook fame to Vincent O’Brien and Jonjo O’Neill.