NPC provides fitting platform for Ireland’s top ploughing competitors

The 2024 National Ploughing Championships (NPC) provided Ireland’s top competitors with an opportunity to demonstrate their undoubted skills.

These included Eamonn Tracey and Jer Coakley, who had performed so well in the recent World Ploughing Championships, held in Estonia.

The contest is a prestigious global event that draws competitors from across the globe, each demonstrating their mastery in the art of ploughing.

This year’s event in Estonia was particularly challenging, with competitors facing unpredictable weather conditions and tough terrain.

However, both Tracey and Coakley rose to the occasion, showcasing the best of Irish ploughing talent and securing victory in their respective categories.

This also means that Ireland has now brought home the gold in both conventional and reversible categories, three years in a row.

Tracey earned top spot in the Conventional Ploughing category, while Coakley secured first place in the Senior Reversible Ploughing category.

Significantly, both men sustained this vein of goof form while competing at Ratheniska. Coakley won the Senior Reversible test match, while Tracey secured fifth spot in a highly competitive Senior Reversible test match.

Final day of the 2024 National Ploughing Championships results

Senior Reversible Test Match

1^st: Jer Coakley, Co. Cork;

2^nd: John Whelan, Co. Wexford;

3^rd: Dan Donnelly, Co. Wexford.

Senior Conventional Test Match

1^st: Martin Kehoe, Co. Wexford;

2^nd: Matthew Simms, Co. Donegal;

3^rd: Gary Simms, Co. Donegal.

Special Horse Plough Class

1^st: Jeremiah Delaney, Co. Cork;

2^nd: James Kigarrif, Co. Galway;

3^rd: Moss Trant, Co. Kerry.

Standard Three-Furrow Reversible Plough Class

1^st: Padraig Walsh, Co. Cork;

2^nd: Francis Harney, Co. Wexford;

3^rd: Frankie Gowing, Co. Offaly.

Vintage Two-Furrow Mounted Plough Class

1^st: Oliver Smyth, Co. Meath;

2^nd: Thomas Beausang, Co. Waterford;

3^rd: Alan Simms, Co. Donegal.

Junior A Conventional Plough Class

1^st: John O’Brien Jnr, Co. Tipperary;

2^nd: Tom Duffy, Co. Tipperary;

3^rd: Jonathan Murray, Co. Offaly.

Junior B Conventional Plough Class

1^st: Michael J Donegan, Co. Kerry;

2^nd: Joseph Twomey, Co. Cork;

3^rd: Ciaran McConnon, Co. Monaghan.

Macra Two-Furrow Conventional Plough Class

1^st Shane Caulfield, Co. Wexford;

2^nd: Aoife Hennessy, Co. Kilkenny;

3^rd: Padraig Kelly, Co. Monaghan.