Huntsman Anthony Costello and hounds head to covert. Behind (l-r) are whipper-in Oisin Rigney, Senior Master Michael MacDonagh, and local landowner Martin Moran. / Noel Mullins photo
History
The County Galway Hunt (the Blazers) was founded by John Denis in 1829. Denis was Master and huntsman.
In Foxhunting LIfe, we have previously written about the late Lady Molly Cusack-Smith of Bermingham House and her ancestor, John Denis. Lady Molly was Master and hunted the Blazers’ pack from 1939 to 1943 during most of World War II when so many of the men were away in service. At that time, she was known as Miss Molly O’Rourke.
In 1946, one year after the war ended, Lady Molly and her new husband Sir Dermott established their own pack, the Bermingham and North Galway, today known as the North Galway.
This year, Lady Molly’s granddaughter Joanna Hyland has been appointed to the Blazers’ Mastership, making it three generations of the same family in three consecutive centuries to be a Master of the Blazers, one of the most famous packs in all the hunting world.
Blazers new Join-Master Joanna Hyland (mounted) with her mother Oonagh Mary at Raftery’s Bar. / Noel Mullins photo
Joanna’s mother Oonagh Mary was a Joint-Master of the family pack, Bermingham and North Galway, while also hunting from childhood with the Blazers. She was there at the meet in Craughwell to see her daughter on her first day as Joint-Master. Joanna’s son Aaron was at the meet as well.
Joanna has many of her grandmother’s characteristics: she rides purposefully, is decisive, and loves her hounds and hunting. Her partner Johnny Geoghegan, a provider of hirelings to the Blazers, had fourteen hirelings out―most owned by locals who have hunters on livery with Johnny and Joanna. They also stand stallions, including the Irish Draught stallion Ceide Prince by Gurrane Zidane, owned by Chantal Dion and ridden internationally by Jessica Kurten.
Rafterys Bar and Restaurant, Craughwell, Co Galway
The Meet
The County Galway kennels have been in Craughwell for much of the time since the hunt’s founding. It was like old times meeting at Raftery’s Bar in Craughwell with a large number of local mounted followers, including children―all good riders and beautifully turned out.
The Blazers have gone from three days to two days a week which makes sense as now two motorways criss-cross the hunt country. They can now hunt the best of it in comfort and safety.
I have great memories of meets at Raftery’s Bar when film director John Huston was Joint-Master. His children Angelica and Tony were hunting their Connemara Ponies, well looked after by Paddy Lynch. Ceilidh music was played by the Wren Boys after the meet on St Stephen’s Day, and I recall author and Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck, quietly and unassumingly minding the children while the parents danced, not knowing how famous Steinbeck was. In those days, you could rub shoulders with Hollywood film stars like Audrey Hepburn, Richard Widmark, Montgomery Clift, or Cary Grant, and authors like Jean-Paul Sartre, Arthur Miller, and many more.
The late Willie Leahy Remembered
There was sadness, too. For the first time in living memory, the Blazers’ former Field Master, Willie Leahy, was missing. Willie had passed away some weeks earlier. He will be remembered fondly by many, especially the overseas visitors to whom he furnished hirelings and welcomed to the field. So many of the visitors remained friends for life, buying his hunters and spending their vacation on his Connemara Trail.
Mounting Up
Trucks arrived from Geoghegan’s, Gilligan’s, McNamara’s, and many more stables. International showjumper Tim MacDonagh, known for Hollypark-prefix horses, was on a four-year-old Irish Draught by their own stallion Drishane Diamond Lad whose back breeding is Clover Hill and Diamond Lad. They carry a large stock of showjumpers and hunters. The young stock experience a unique early development: they are allowed to run as a herd on their farm on the limestone lands in the Burren, County Clare. They return to Hollypark for their education then go on to clients around the world as showjumpers, eventers, and hunters.
Vincent Shields, a son of the late Blazers Master and a former Master of the West Carbery Hounds―better known as Edith Somerville’s pack―was leading his daughter Molly while his wife Ruth was away on horseback!
Former huntsman Neil Simpson, though living in Limerick, is a regular visitor to Galway. International endurance rider Martin McNamara was on foot with his niece Rebecca and cousin Kayla Costello whose father Michael was helping to build walls. Following also was Alan Leonard, a skilled photographer, who records the Blazers throughout the season. Also at the meet was Barry Gavin, whose mother Pauline was a Blazers Joint-Master for many years. She also rode and trained point-to-pointers and was the first lady in over a hundred years to be invited (in 2010) to join the Galway Race Committee, a position her late husband Colm held for many years previously.
Blazers new Joint-Master Joanna Hyland in flying form at the Opening Meet from Rafterys Bar. / Noel Mullins photo
Hunting
Huntsman Anthony Costello and his pack did not disappoint. The hound music was wonderful. Anthony’s father James was huntsman of the County Clare Hounds and the North Galway Foxhounds, and his uncle John Willie hunted the County Sligo Hounds.
Anthony also trained and rode point-to-pointers for years, so his riding skills are top class. He has an enormous workload, managing the hounds and kennels and visiting over forty farmers to arrange each meet. However, he had great support from local farmer Martin Moran for the opening meet.
His new whipper-in, Oisin Rigney, is from nearby New Inn and is a fine addition to the hunt. Oisin, who previously whipped-in to the County Waterford Foxhounds, concentrated on his job all day, keeping backmarker hounds on to the huntsman.
The Blazers had not hunted the Greenwich country during the autumn hunting season, so foxes were almost too plentiful. They had had plenty of time to get comfortable in one area, which is not necessarily a healthy situation for foxes. They can contract mange, a highly infectious mite that can burrow under the skin and cause itch, loss of hair, and infections that can be fatal. Hounds make a positive contribution in dispersing congregated foxes, thereby avoiding this dreadful disease.
The pack drew Derry Bermingham’s, John Kelly’s, and found in Pakie Martin’s where hound music was in the air but confined as foxes were slow to leave. The followers had some fun, however. All the fields in this area are small, so jumping is frequent, and the hazel woods provide an ideal environment for sound.
Having done their work in the first covert, the next draw was in Tom McNamara’s farm in Shanbally. (Many around the country would be familiar with the success of the Shanbally-prefix horses, especially at Balmoral and the Dublin Horse Show.) Tom’s daughter Maria rides all their show entries both astride and side-saddle. Maria is one of the foremost experts in riding side saddle in Ireland and was hunting side saddle this day. They trade as Horses in Ireland.
As soon as hounds hit the covert in McNamara’s, the hound music welled. Again, foxes were slow to leave, weaving back and forward from one wood to the other. We got a special glimpse of the Blazer’s pack doing what they do best―casting themselves in circles and magical to see close-up. The huntsman avoided the temptation to lift hounds, and the pack got it right again and again on their own. It was like a special performance for the few of us that happened to be in the right place at the time. They marked eventually in a stone dump.
The next draw was Coleman’s on The High Road, where hounds found and got a run to Ricky Allen’s, into Rabbitt’s, and then hunted the line back again to Coleman’s.
At this point, the huntsman blew for home, where Raftery’s Bar lived up to its reputation as the home of hospitality.
(L-R) Galway Blazers Joint-Masters Joanna Hyland, Michael MacDonagh, and Leah Haggerty at Opening Meet from Raftery’s. / Noel Mullins photo
Officers, Masters, and Staff
Chairman, Janet Coveney
Masters, Michael MacDonagh, Leah Haggerty, Ella Coffey, and Joanna Hyland.
Huntsman, Anthony Costello
Whipper-in, Oisin Rigney
Honorary Secretary, Stephanie McDonagh
Posted December 3, 2021
Noel Mullins is a foxhunter, author, and sporting photojournalist in Ireland. Visit Noel’s website to see his books.