The con and annie kirby memorial puppy stake

Last Saturday 28th March saw the Semi final heats of the “Con and Annie Kirby Memorial Puppy Stake” at Limerick Greyhound Stadium.  

12 Greyhounds competed in the Semi Finals, all vying for the coveted first prize of €80,000, with the 1st three greyhounds qualifying for the final on Saturday 4th of April.

There was a huge crowd for the Semi finals with significant interest from GAA clubs and greyhound people alike. The star of the show was Rural Hawaii who kept his unbeaten run in the competition intact, when winning the second semi final in a very fast 28.22. In the first semi final Country Legend, who was fastest from the traps, went on to win comfortably by four lengths in a time of 28.33.
This is widely viewed as one of the best open finals and makes for a hugely anticipated Final next weekend Saturday April 4th.
 
With a total prize fund of €160,000, it is the richest Puppy Stake in the world!  The event which is kindly sponsored by JP  & Noreen McManus, also offers local GAA Clubs the opportunity to share in a €10,000 nominators prize fund. 
  
Each Greyhound running in the stake is also linked to a GAA club from County Limerick.  The overall winning nominator club will receive €10,000 and the fantastic opportunity to hold a fundraising night for their club at Limerick Greyhound Stadium at no cost. The nominator club in second and third position will win €5,000 and €2,000 respectively with the three unplaced nominators winning €1,000 each.

After the last Semi Final the trap draw was made for the Final resulting in the following in trap order  

Final  Draw
Heat 1 Greyhound Name Club Assigned
Trap 1 Country Legend Murroe Boher
Trap 2 Beaming Boost Knockanie Ladies Football
Trap 3 Droopys Breadon Kilmallock
Trap 4 Cable Bay Fr Caseys
Trap 5 Ivy Hill Bart Galbally
Trap 6 Rural Hawaii Old Christians

For more information and a list of nominators please visit www.limerickgreyhoundstadium.ie or contact John Mc Carthy on 061-448037.