45th Longford Shooting and Conservation Club County DTL
The pigeon shoot had eighteen teams and conditions were fair
Edgeworthstown was the venue on sunny Sunday, August 17 for the 45th Longford Shooting and Conservation Club County DTL (down-the-line) clay pigeon shoot.
Longford Shooting and Conservation Club (LSCC) would like to thank all who helped and took part in the event hosted by Mostrim Club, from the competitors to the people running the office and to all who assisted with the setup of the excellent grounds.
On the shoot itself, conditions were fair, and the traps were set and not much to complain about for the shooters.
Eighteen teams took part and unlike previous years all shooters were released to the course simultaneously which added to the atmosphere around the grounds with time for chats or for competitors to look on and assess their nearest rival / neighbour.
The home team proved to be the strongest as Mostrim were able to piece the stands together and shoot a respectable 1,605 which was enough to clinch the title. Mostrim were followed closely by Granard ‘A’ in second and Cashel ‘A’ in third.
The battle for intermediate honours wasn’t quite as straight forward, with two teams tied at top of the pack in Legan ‘A’ and Cashel ‘B’ with a 1,365. This deadlock resulted in both teams suiting back up and going back to the course again. The teams were tied after the first stand but after that Legan proved too strong and came out as this year’s Intermediate winners with Cashel ‘’B finishing in second place and Granard ‘B’ closing out in third place.
The Junior category was more straight forward and the winners for that were Streete ‘B’ with a 1,255 followed by Cashel ‘C’ in second place and Legan ‘B’ in third place.
Individual winners
Two men were tied at the top of the board only dropping a single clay, Mostrim’s Declan McLoughlin and Granard’s Tommy Lynch. Both men took to the course again to settle the matter.
In this fascinating duel, Declan could not be overtaken with him shooting a perfect 350/350 in the shoot off leaving nothing to question. Declan became this year’s overall high gun.
Seven men shot a perfect score on the DTL and entered themselves into the Peter Lyons shoot off. The familiar name of Nigel McCloughry won out and remained as the holder of the Peter Lyons Cup for two consecutive years.
The Veteran winner was Barney Kenny. Under 21 winner was Luke Dowd. Trainee winner was Jack Callaghan.
This year there was a new category added to the competition in honour of the late Charlie Martin. Granard Gun Club kindly sponsored a trophy for the Super Vet category. It was somewhat fitting as it was a Granard man, Patrick Martin, who put his name first on the Charlie Martin trophy after a shoot off with Martin Gilchrist and Kevin Gannon.
The Longford Shooting and Conservation Club would like to thank all for another successful and safe year of clay target shooting.