Terra incognita

Two Irish packs have amalgamated - and a visit for the Muskerry into the United country ends with a good hunt

- LIAM CLANCY

Muskerry & United, Lisgoold, Co Cork

AMONG the many perks of being a hunting correspondent is the fact that you are so often seeing a country for the first time, with only a vague notion of what may lie ahead. For the hunt staff and the mounted field to be similarly venturing into terra incognita is an unusual state of affairs, but that was the case on the day of my visit to the Muskerry & United in Co Cork.

The Muskerry, established in 1742, has a solid claim on being Ireland's oldest hunt. The United was originally founded in 1825, but the pack was disbanded and the country reconfigured several times before settling down in its modern form under the mastership of the fifth Earl of Shannon in 1871.

The two hunts, with territories on either side of Cork, amalgamated earlier this year, and the Muskerry hounds moved to the United's state-of-the-art kennels in March.

"The Muskerry had a good membership but not such good facilities, and the United had a poor membership but excellent facilities," United stalwart Michael McCarthy explained.

The Lisgoold meet was to be the first time that the faithful of the Muskerry ventured into the United country.

"We're not in Kansas any more, Toto," I heard John Paul O'Callaghan remark.

Among the less-welcome surprises awaiting them was the fact that the only pub in the village hadn't opened yet. Joint-master John Crean produced two bottles of whiskey from somewhere, but was pessimistic about supply meeting demand.

"Tis a bulk tank you'd need for this lot," he declared, running his eye over the crowd.

Nonetheless, I have seldom attended a more convivial meet. And there was an impressive assemblage of foot-followers from both hunt countries intermingled with the riders, and the air fairly crackled with wit and banter, all delivered in musical Cork accents.