Growing up on the outskirts of Templemore, Co Tipperary, farming and sport are Niall Delaney’s bread and butter.

An energetic and charismatic young man and the youngest of four brothers, it’s clear that family, rural life and community are a big part of Niall’s values.

“I’ve been involved on the family farm since I was able to. There’s four of us in it – Diarmuid, Ned, Mikey and myself – so we share out the load. We all love football and hurling so that takes up the rest of the time,” he says.

Nominated by his mother Mary for Rising Rural Stars, she describes how Niall has achieved a lot in his young life. With very little time to spare between his different interests, he has done brilliantly to balance such a hectic schedule.

Niall parent’s Michael and Mary are milking 90 cows in a spring-calving system. Niall has a big interest in the family business, particularly in the area of genetics and breeding.

“We have been putting a big effort into developing the EBI of the herd over the years. We’ve a few bulls in AI stations,” he explains.

The effort has paid off for the farm as they currently operate as one of the best dairy herds in terms of EBI in Ireland. The herd is registered under the Kilclareen name and has the bull Kilclareen Fourelms on the active bull list for 2025, with an EBI of €280 – clearly something Niall and his parents are very proud of.

Focus on education

Niall will soon turn 17 and has just finished his fifth year of school in Our Lady’s Secondary School, Templemore. He will be completing his Leaving Cert next year and hopes to go on and study agricultural science at university.

Niall milking cows. \ Odhran Ducie

“I haven’t fully decided what I’m going to do yet. I’d love to come back farming at some stage but I’d be hoping to study agriculture in college first to try and learn a bit more. My brother Diarmuid was in UCD and he loved it so that’s probably the frontrunner at the moment,” he says.

Niall’s brother Diarmuid has recently been selected to complete a PhD with Teagasc in the area of succession. When talking to Niall and his mother Mary, it’s clear that education is very important in the Delaney household.

There is a big emphasis placed on the opportunity to learn and broaden your horizons through third-level education, with all of Niall’s older brothers currently attending different universities.

Sporting life

Sport is a massive part of Niall’s life and has played a major role in his upbringing. He plays both football and hurling for his local club JK Brackens.

Niall started playing at a young age and you can hear the pride and dedication he has to his club and the GAA when he talks about the subject.

“We’re all involved with the club at different ages. I love being a part of it.”

Niall was selected to represent Tipperary at intercounty minor level in both football and hurling this year – a dream of his since he was a child. It’s a major achievement for any young person to be asked to represent their county team, but managing to balance the two is no easy feat.

It’s been a tough couple of weeks on the sporting front as far as results go for Niall. The Tipperary minor footballers were narrowly defeated by Cork after extra time in the Munster semi-final.

Niall then represented the hurlers as they once again faced Cork in the Celtic Challenge All-Ireland minor hurling final in Semple Stadium. Another narrow loss but plenty of positives to take out of it for Niall.

The day gave the players the opportunity to represent their county in the All-Ireland final (of their age group) in the home of hurling – a coveted opportunity many could only dream of.

“Yeah, it’s been a bit tougher the last few weeks with some of the results, but playing on them teams is something you dream of when you’re younger. Hopefully there’ll be a few better days ahead,” he says.

Summer holidays

Niall is looking forward to the summer and working on the home farm – a chance to continue to develop his knowledge and skills around their spring-calving dairy system.

“It has been a brilliant year on the farm so far,” according to Niall. “The good spring has the farm set up nicely for the year. Grass growth is good at the moment and we had all the first-cut silage made during the dry spell.”

Breeding is well underway and again Niall seems happy with how it’s going. This is his area of speciality and he looks forward to it coming around every year.

With a can-do attitude, Niall strives to do his best at whatever he’s part of. The future is very bright, both in a sporting sense and in his future career path.

At a time when there can be negative noise around the opportunities for young people in farming, Niall is willing to fight against the tide.