South Offaly Ploughing hold 25th Annual Ploughing match at Killyon

THIS weekend marks a very special milestone for South Offaly Ploughing when it holds it’s 25th annual ploughing match on Sunday February 19th at Killyon.

South Offaly Ploughing Branch was formed in November 1996 and the branch held its first ploughing match in February of 1997. The terrible weather on the day of the first match didn’t dampen the spirits of the enthusiastic committee.

The branch has staged a very successful ploughing match every year since with the exception of 2020 and 2021 when the event was cancelled due to Covid. The South Offaly Ploughing match is one of five matches held in Offaly every year. Competitors compete over the five matches for a place on the team which will represent Offaly at the National Ploughing Championships in September.

Three members of the branch have won All Ireland titles and John McBryde has represented Ireland in Scotland and Wales at European and Five Nations vintage ploughing competitions. This shows the level of both skill and dedication the members of the branch have.

The South Offaly Ploughing match always draws a large number of spectators to the field. The skill of the competitors who plough the plots with such a level of precision can be extremely rewarding to watch. While some spectators come to see some very sophisticated ploughs with many modifications and adjustments, many more spectators take the opportunity to see the vintage tractors and ploughs in action. This event is one of the rare opportunities people get to see tvo tractors like the Fordsen ploughing with a two furrow trailed vintage plough. The vintage classes always attract a large number of entries with competitors travelling from as far as Northern Ireland to compete.

This year the event takes place on the lands of Pat Dooley at Killyon, Birr. South Offaly Ploughing branch are extremely grateful to Pat for making an excellent site available to them for this year's event. The site is located less than half a mile from Killyon cross on the Rath road. The ploughing completions kick off at 12 noon and all competitors are asked to pre-enter to (087) 7584168.

South Offaly ploughing would like to extend a huge word of thanks to all its sponsors. Many of these have been supporting the branch since its first match back in 1997 and without this generous support it would be impossible to run such a successful ploughing match each year.