Mayo claim All Ireland Texel title in Cork

Charleville Show which was held on Sunday 30 June saw the return of the Growvite National Championships for the Irish Texel Society.

The winner of the aged ram class was Curley First Descent from Dermot Behan and Percy O’Callaghan.

Not only did First Decent pick up a red rosette on the day but he was also sire of the novice first placed ram lamb in both the nationals and the All Ireland with lambs from the Feddans flock of Percy O’Callaghan.

The aged ewe class had some exceptional ewes on display. Coming out on top this time were Paddy, Sean and Aoibhe Morrissey with a Hartside Assassin daughter.

The shearling ram class was also claimed by the same winner as the All Ireland shearling ram class a few weeks ago. The breeder was Jimmy Garrivan with Cherryvale Gerrard, a son of Cherryvale Frankel.

The class was packed with some great shearling rams with the majority of them heading to the Irish Texel Sheep Society Premier sale on the 9 - 10 August in Blessington Mart.

Shearling ewes

The shearling classes were up next and as usual, it was one of the strongest classes on the day with the eventual Female Champion and Reserve coming from this class.

Claiming first place was a Garngour Fly Half daughter.

This ewe has stacks of breeding with her mother being the 2022 Growvite National Champion. This shearling ewe was bred and exhibited by A and P O’Keeffe from Co Cork.

The second prize in the class was a Midlock Dapper daughter from the Murphy brothers of Frenchbrook Texels. This ewe also has some history in the ring having been placed first in the nationals last year.

The novice ram lamb class was claimed by a relatively new breeder Percy O’Callaghan from Co Waterford with a naturally born Curly First Decent triplet son out of a homebred Forge Gig Gun ewe.

This was the second major win for this lamb with Percy O’Callaghan having already been placed first in the All-Ireland with the same lamb.

The next class was the Open Ram Lamb class which again was a very strong class. The winner of this class went on to claim the overall championship later in the day.

The first prize winning lamb in this class came from the previously mentioned Murphy brothers with a son of their 2023 Blessington purchase Annakisha Golden Moment.

This lamb also has the same mother as the reserve female champion on the day. He heads to the Premier Sale in August.

Taking the red rosette in the junior ram class was Jarlath Joyce with a son, Claybury Dunkirk out of last year’s Premier Sale champion and record price ewe lamb PFI2302019. This lamb went on to be Reserve Male champion and also heads to the Premier Sale.

Ewe lamb

The ewe lamb class was claimed by Jimmy Garrivan with a daughter of the 2022 Premier Sale champion Clara Fandango out of a Coniston Equinox daughter.

The Junior Ewe Lamb class went to the Murphy brothers with another daughter of Midlock Dapper.

The Novice Ewe class was won by Malachy Hand with a daughter of Sportsmans Dare Devil and out of a ewe purchased at the 2023 Premier Sale RDF2201088.

The judge on the day John Neville commented on the exceptional standard of stock on show which is a testament to the hard work of the breeders to bring out the sheep.

“It’s great to see so many of the winners produced out of purchases made from Blessington last year,” John Neville added.