Diamond flock does the double for the second year in a row at Athlone

It was a sunny Sunday in Westmeath for the annual Athlone Agri Show, which saw a large number of exhibitors and spectators travel from all across Ireland to attend.

There were classes for 12 different breeds on the day including the All-Ireland championships for the Blue Texel, Dassenkop, Beltex and Hampshire Down breeds.

Blue Texel

There was a record number of entries for the 2025 Blue Texel All-Ireland championships this year with the lamb classes both seeing well over 30 entries. The quality of the lambs in each class was extremely strong making it a difficult task for the day’s judge David Grey from the well-known Scotland-based Ettrick flock.

In the ewe lamb class, it was a stand-out ewe lamb named Diamond Jewel from Nigel Hogan that caught Grey’s eye to win the class. Diamond Jewel was sired by an imported Belgian ram and her dam was Knockmult Harmony, the 2024 All-Ireland Blue Texel champion. Jewel went on to follow in her mother’s footsteps and win female champion and overall champion Blue Texel. In the interbreed section she went on to represent the breed extremely well, winning overall interbreed champion of the Athlone Show.

Shannon Murphy then went on to take second and third in the large class. Her second-place ewe lamb went on to claim reserve female champion and overall reserve champion Blue Texel.

In the ram lamb section, it was a massive ram lamb from Philip Crowe that took the red ribbon. Named Powerful Jamaica, he was both powerful by name and by nature.

He was sired by Derg Jack in the Box, the 2024 Northern Ireland Blue Texel Premier sale champion. Jamaica went on to secure the male champion title later in the day.

It was also Shannon Murphy from Monaghan who won second place in the ram lamb section with an extremely stylish lamb. This sharp lamb went on to claim reserve male champion.

Dassenkop

In the Dassenkop section it was Nigel Hogan’s Diamond flock that rose to the top once again to claim overall champion, with a super shearling ewe named Diamond I’m Perfect 2.

I’m Perfect has been no stranger to All-Ireland success, having also won the All-Ireland champion Dassenkop title last year as a lamb. I’m Perfect was sired by the well-known Dassenkop ram Makavelli and out of a homebred Diamond ewe.

This massive shearling ewe also had great interbreed success taking the reserve champion spot, doing the double for Nigel Hogan’s Diamond flock.

Hogan went on to win second and third in that same class, and his second prizewinning shearling ewe went on to win reserve female champion.

In the ewe lamb class, it was Hogan who won first with a flashy ewe lamb, followed by Rachel Gallagher in second place. Another two ewe lambs of Hogan took third and fourth place.

Topping the males and winning overall reserve champion Dassenkop was Powerful Jeronimo a stand-out ram lamb from Philip Crowe.

This well-marked lamb was a son of the highly admired Powerful flock stock ram 310 and his dam was also an import ewe from the Vissers flock.

Beltex

In the Beltex ring, sheep had also travelled the length and breadth of Ireland to compete for an All-Ireland title. The judge for the All-Ireland Beltex championships was another Scotsman, Stuart Wood from the well-known Woodies Beltex flock.

Both the quantity and quality of the Beltex sheep on show in Athlone were extremely high.

It was the shearling ewe from the Donegal-based Aileach View flock of Jack and Sean O’Brien that stood out from the crowd to claim first in a very competitive shearling ewe class. This ewe followed up by winning the female championship and, to top it off, being tapped out as the All-Ireland champion Beltex for 2025.

O’Brien also claimed reserve female champion and reserve overall champion with a classy March-born ewe lamb named Aileach View Lust or Love.

Hampshire Down

The final of the four All-Ireland championships to take place in Athlone was the Hampshire Down championships.

It was won by a 2022-born Glenbrook ewe from Malcolm and Hilary Workman. The powerful ewe was sired by Ashley Springbrook and was out of a Loughbrae Black Night ewe. This was also the Workman familys first time competing at the Hampshire Down All-Ireland, having only set up their flock in 2024.

Overall reserve champion in the Hampshire Down section went to Michael White with his strong ram lamb.