The National Hall of Fame Awards for 2018 were presented at the Sheraton Hotel, Athlone on Saturday 12th May. The awards are now in their 16th year and recognise the achievements and commitment of the worthy recipients in three categories: Bovine, Equine and Ovine. Denis Naughten TD, Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment was on hand to present to the recipients.
The Irish Limousin Cattle Society was honoured to name Pat McGuinness as a very worthy 2018 Hall of Fame recipient.
Hall of Fame 2018 – Mr. Pat McGuinness
The Irish Limousin Cattle Society 2018 Hall of Fame Recipient is Mr. Pat McGuinness from Bettystown, Co. Meath. Pat became a member of the Society in 1991 when he founded the Mosney herd after purchasing a foundation female, Bremore Celestial, from the herd of Larry and Bobby Jones.
The Mosney herd grew steadily in the intervening years and enjoyed much success in breeding outstanding Limousin cattle. Amongst Pat’s earliest triumphs was Mosney Jumbo – a home bred bull which was sold to the Ballydaniel herd and went on to take the Male Championship at the National Show (then held during the Ploughing Championships) for an unprecedented two years in a row.
Pat is also very well-known and highly regarded on the Commercial Show Circuit. Ever before his involvement with Limousin he was a regular feature at shows all over Ireland. One of his commercial Limousin heifers helped in no small way to turn farmers focus to the Limousin breed when in 1996 she won Supreme Commercial Champion at the National Livestock Show in Tullamore, being the first Limousin to do so. She was displayed on the Limousin stand at the Ploughing for two years along with her 32 red rosettes accumulated over two show seasons.
The Society quickly became cognisant of Pat’s keen interest in developing the breed and were delighted when he became a member of Council in 1996, a position he held until 2004. During his tenure Pat worked tirelessly to ensure the breed stayed to the forefront in Irish cattle breeding and along with his fellow Council members introduced several initiatives which have greatly benefited the breed. The International Limousin Congress was held in Ireland for the first time – this was an enormous undertaking with the reward being a very successful Congress, testament to the efforts of the Limousin Council at the time.
With his in-depth knowledge the Society was privileged to have Pat’s talents at its disposal, during his time on Council he served as Chairman of the Shows and Sales committee. He coordinated the Limousin Derby (1996) – a Cross border competition with the Northern Ireland Limousin club with Seamus Gallagher. Pat also helped with the development of the YMA (Young Members Association), he managed the selection of a National team to partake in an International competition. This team comprised of Trevor Masterson, James Wycherley, Padraic McDonald, Mark Smith and Gareth McGuinness.
Pat imparted his knowledge to his young charges and was delighted when they took the top accolade at the competition – a first for an Irish team. Trevor and James also took the honours in the highly competitive Pairs competition.
Pat resigned from Council in 2004, having served for eight years including two as Vice President, during which he represented the Irish Limousin Cattle Society at Eurolim meetings in Europe. He was also very active with his local North East Limousin club, including two terms as Chairman. He judged many locals shows and the National show. He also judged in Northern Ireland at Bull sales in Portadown.
Since his retirement from Council, Pat along with Martin McCullagh have undertaken the role of inspectors at Limousin Society sales. This vital task is performed with the upmost professionalism and as a society we are very fortunate to have Pat and Martin with their limitless knowledge of cattle at our disposal.
Pat has a family of four – Gareth, Louise, Andrew and Emma. Gareth inherited Pat’s grá for livestock and his keen eye, Gareth is regularly sought for his judging and grooming abilities.
Pat is now semi-retired and works part time for a Transport company. In his down time he enjoys horse racing.
The Irish Limousin Cattle Society would like to congratulate Pat and which him continued success.
We would like to thank
- Michael and Oliver Flanagan
- Tesco Ireland
- Nominees Sponsors
- The Sheraton Hotel
