55th Annual Show & Sale At Roscommon Mart Saturday 8th August 2026

West of Ireland Registered Pedigree Suffolk Sheep Breeders Club Established in 1971 will celebrate its 55 Annual Show & Sale At Roscommon Mart on Saturday 8th August at 11.30am.

In the spring of 1971, a group of likeminded Suffolk Sheep breeders decided that they would hold a Show of Pedigree Suffolk ram lambs at Roscommon mart. This Show & Sale was held on Sat 14th August 1971. Denis Lynch, a well know Suffolk Pedigree Sheep breeder from Co. Longford was invited to be the judge. Denny chose a ram lamb shown by Mr. Paddy Broderick of the Ballyglunin flock as his Champion. This lamb later sold for £60 gns; amounting to almost €1,000.00 in 2021, a very decent price for 1971. As this sale was a huge success; these breeders decided to form a Suffolk Breeders club and purchase trophies. The club was named the “West of Ireland Registered Pedigree Suffolk Sheep Breeders Club.” The Club would cover the five Western Counties and Co. Longford as Co. Longford was operated under the regional office at the Roscommon Department of Agriculture at the time. In later years breeders from Westmeath and two breeders from Co. Clare were welcomed into the Club.

A Committee was elected and the prize winners on the day led by Paddy Broderick, donated their prize money to purchase trophies, these trophies are still as significant to their winners in 2026 as they were fifty-five years ago. In this atmosphere of generosity and good will, the club, under the Chairmanship Mico Lavin from Boyle (Mico remained on as Chairman until 1989) was now up and running. First officers were Michael Jones Tulsk, Paddy Broderick Ballyglunin, Paddy Gordon Roscommon and John Joe Cummins Curraghaboy. These were courageous and far-seeing men who not alone were successful in producing Suffolk rams for the home market they successfully oversaw the export of Suffolk ram lambs to Scotland in the mid 1970’s. Other great breeders from the West who played a dominant part in the formation and the progress of the club included Jim Keenan Longford; Frank Harrington Athleague and Strokestown; Sean Brennan Roscommon; Padraic Niland Ardrahan; John Joe Mitchell Menlough; Josie & Maura Loftus Crossmolina; Anne & John O’Flaherty Ardrahan; John Seed Longford; Martin Clarke Turloughmore; Joseph O’Berine Strokestown: John Kenny Ballymacurle:, Oliver Conway Claremorris; Michael Finnerty Headford; Con Lynch Longford; Padraic Raftery Athenry; Mary Duffy Grealy Oranmore; (Former President): TJ Broderick Menlough; Mark Grealy Oranmore; Stephen Govin Claremorris; John Fahy Cummer; Kevin Griffin Ballymoe; Peter Glennon Kilrickle; Pat Lynch Moatfarrell; Michael Murphy Cummer and John Brooks Taughmaconnell. Some of these great breeders are still with us today and still breeding Suffolks, sadly others have gone to their eternal rest. It is still a pleasure for our club to be the keeper and holder of all records and minute books for the past 55 years as well as to admire, sit and read the names the victorious winners, whose names are engraved on our treasured trophies.

An example of the consistency of the caliber of the breeders of club is the Moatfarrell flock founded by Dennis Lynch in 1949. This is the oldest flock in the club and indeed one of the oldest flocks in the country. It is now owned and ran by son Pat, who produced the overall Champion at our Premier Sale at the Society sale in 2020 and the top price ram lamb at the Roscommon Premier sale in 2020. The West of Ireland is well known as sheep country, Co. Roscommon has the distinction of having the very first pedigree Suffolk Flock in Ireland owned by Henry Strevins from Athleague, this flock was established in 1891.

Over the years the club steadily progressed owing to the unity of purpose among us breeders, we are now recognized as the top Pedigreed Suffolk Sheep Club in the country. In the 55 years there were many meetings where lively and heated debate took place but it was always constructive; this was a sign of a very healthy club, where unity of purpose and ability of those members to put personal difference aside to ensure that the club went from strength to strength. In doing so we ensured that the club prospered and expanded. However, 55 years is a long time, and sadly in April 2019 a small number of our breeders decided to break away from the parent club and form a rival club of their own. We regard this as a superficial setback and we wish them well as our club heads into the next 55 years. The focus of the West of Ireland Registered Pedigree Suffolk Sheep Breeders Club is to promote quality Suffolk Sheep, male and female, shown in their natural state and naturally fed, no cabbage, no typhon, suitable for the commercial sheep breeder; this is what the club has promoted since its formation. The Suffolks superior traits; hardiness, prolificacy, rapid growth rate, easy fleshing, hardy lively lambs and great wool quality is as relevant today as it was 55 years ago providing the commercial market with quality in quantity.

Following on from the success of the club at Shows & Sales at Roscommon Mart, it expanded its success and introduced a show and sale at Athenry Mart. Instrumental in organizing this Show & Sale were Mary Grealy Oranmore, Club President, who sadly passed away earlier this year. Padraic Niland Ardrahan and the late John Joe Mitchell Menlough. The First Show & Sale were held in Athenry in 1978 and the club has held a Show & Sale there annually since then. This year’s Show & Sale will be held on Friday 21st August in Athenry Mart. As the years moved on it became clear that there was a big demand for Suffolks and the club introduced sales at Ballina, Ballinrobe, Ballinasloe, Headford, Mountbellew and Tuam Marts. The West of Ireland Registered Pedigree Suffolk Sheep Breeders would like to acknowledge very positively the cooperation and support the Committee, Management and staff of these respective marts has extended to all members overt the past fifty-five years. A very important ingredient to the success of a club is sponsorship; the club has enjoyed sponsorship from many businesses and financial institutions in the area over the past 55 years and would like to acknowledge this in a positive way.

As already stated, the late Paddy Broderick from Larragh, Ballyglunin the first prizewinner for his Suffolk ram in 1971 denoted his prize money towards the purchase of a trophy. The Society gave out prize money in earlier years rather than Trophies. Paddy continued to breed the highest quality Suffolks until he retired from breeding in 2009. Paddy also displayed his judging skills at many events across Connacht and the twenty-six counties.

Mary Grealy Oranmore, always an active club member from the start, Mary was elected chairperson of the club in 1979 and continued in this role until she stepped down and took over the position of Club Treasurer. In 1998 she was bestowed with the honour of President of the Club, and honour she proudly held until her passing in January this year. The West of Ireland Purebred Registered Club arranged that Mary would be honoured with the National Hall of Fame Awards in 2013. Over the years her flock, “The Oranmore Flock” has exhibited at every show and sale held by the West of Ireland Suffolk Sheep Breeders Club and has won many Championships. Mary presented a Trophy, the Duffy Grealy Cup, for the Supreme Champion of the Show at Athenry Mart in memory of her late husband Sean. Not surprisingly, the club arranged that Mary would be honoured with the National Hall of Fame Awards in 2013.
The late John Joe Mitchell from Menlough was PRO for the club from 1975 to 1988; Secretary from 1989 until the time of his passing in 2011. John Joe worked tirelessly promoting the club, securing sponsorship, ensuring the smooth running of the shows and sales and sourcing trophies. It was paramount to John Joe that there was a Trophy for the prize winner of every class at every show ran by the club. In his early years as PRO, he talked the then Manager of Roscommon Mart, the late Owen Morgan in going 50/50 with him in the purchase of a trophy for the Novice Class; this was a class introduced to encourage new breeders to participate in shows at club level. It is more than fitting that the Club holds a cup in his memory for the Supreme Champion at the West of Ireland National Championships.

Padraic Niland of the Chessy Flock started breeding Suffolks in 1972. Padraic captured the Champion of the Show on many occasions since then. Padraic exhibited his sheep at the marts in Athenry, Ballina, Ballinrobe, Ballinasloe, Headford, Roscommon and Tuam. Every year, without fail Padraic came home with a red Rosette. He also exhibited Suffolk’s at every show in Co. Galway. Progeny of the Chessy Flock has been used nationally and across Europe. As well as breeding Champion Suffolks Padraic was a highly respected judge of both Suffolks and Texel’s having judged not alone across Ireland but Northern Ireland and the UK. For over forty years Padraic Niland and his wife Margaret hosted many events for the West of Ireland Registered Pedigree Suffolk Sheep and the Suffolk Sheep Society at their home in Chessy; at Clarninbridge Agricultural Show and at the Agricultural College in Athenry. Another very high-profile member of the club was the late Padraic Raftery from Coshla Athenry; Padraic bred Registered Purebred Suffolks from 1959 until his passing in 2009. Progeny from the Coshla flock was in very high demand with breeders across Ireland and beyond.

Other highly successful Galway Suffolk Sheep Breeders and members of club from the 1970’s; up until their retirement from breeding Suffolks’ include Martin Clarke from Turloughmore, even long after his retirement from breeding Suffolks, Martin continued to judge at many shows and sales across the West of Ireland. Peter Glennon from Kilrickle was a larger-than-life figure in the club from the mid 1970’s until his passing; the Club is honoured to hold a trophy in his memory. Paddy Healy from Greethill Athenry joined the club as a breeder in 1978; Paddy handed down the baton of breeding Suffolks to his son Joe, former President of IFA. Mary Jo O’Dea, also from Atherny graced the club with her winning smile for many years. Louis Hoade, Caherlistrane was a consistent Suffolk Breeder since 1982. Every year, Louis presented and sold up to four ram lambs at all sales in the West of Ireland as did the John Nelly. May they all these dedicated breeders and club members Rest in eternal Peace.
John O’Flaherty and is wife Ann played their part in holding the officer ship positions of Secretary and Treasurer for a number of years. Many more Galway Suffolk breeders held positions in the Club over the past 55 years, included in these was the late Mary Grealy, Padraic Niland, Mark Grealy, TJ Broderick, Pat Lynch, Michael Murphy. The Clubs current officers are Anne Mitchell Chairperson; Michael Murphy Vice Chair: Mairead Quinn, Secretary; Matt Pearse Treasurer, Ursula Rooney Registrar.

Anne Mitchell, Chairperson