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MRS. PHYLLIS RALSTON, RIP
They will not grow old
So I am told
Upon the fields of Barley;
When we walk, the fields of gold.
I first met this delightful and enthusiastic lady about 30 years ago, as you would expect it was at a dog show. This chance encounter was the start of a long association.
Phyllis and her quest for knowledge was legendary. Many long phone calls and trips to Ireland accompanied by her life-long friend Hazel, ensuring that any conversation was punctured by laughter. The stories of extracting Phyllis from bog holes or getting her into a Jeep where hilarious [embellished by Hazel].
Phyllis with her Irish roots may have influenced her choice of dog breed. She tried so hard to succeed with her dogs, but, her heart ruled her head and this always held her back. She worked tirelessly as Show secretary and in promoting her beloved Irish White and Red Setters.
Phyllis had RODOGHVIT as her kennel prefix; it was her husband John who was responsible for this. John on one of his many trips overseas it was while he was in Scandinavia had ‘Red and White’ translated the result was ‘Rodoghvit’. We had many lively discussions on colour of W&R’s and how the colour red was becoming too ‘dark’, many having lost the true sparkling light “chestnut” red, which is so attractive.
To those of us who were privy to have her as a friend, the void she has left will never be filled.
To her sons Ian and Stewart I extend my condolence.
SLAN AGAT!
Dermot Mooney
Winnowing
Phyllis at Crufts with Rory.
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-Terry O’Leary
Laura Dunne was a founder member of the IRWSC and also helped the Club to secure land to run our first Field Trials on. As Show Secretary of the Irish Gundog Field & Show Society she was one of the first Show Secretaries to schedule breed classes and a field trial class for the breed.
In 1975 I decided to show a Red Setter bitch. Not knowing how to prepare a dog for a show I went to a professional in Richmond Road. He informed me that he did not groom Irish Setters and gave me the address of a lady in Richmond Road whose name was Laura Dunne. I proceeded down the road to the house and rang the doorbell. The door was opened by a grey haired lady to whom I explained my predicament. She replied “You can’t come in. I have pups! Come into the front garden.” So there in the front garden of a very busy street Laura showed me how to prepare my dog. I can still remember the instructions she gave me:- The dog was to be brushed to remove any dead hair; On the ears you could use a comb with your thumb across it; The only place you were to put a scissors to an Irish Setter was between the toes if there was excessive hair growth. She finished by telling me never to strip an Irish Setter’s neck or front as this was completely foreign to the breed.
Little did I know then that this was to be the start of a friendship that lasted over twenty-nine years. I later met Laura at shows and while discussing what she fed the dogs she mentioned that part of their diet was brown bread which she was finding it very hard to get. As I was working for Johnson, Mooney & O’Brien, Bread Company at the time I started to drop by with brown bread every Monday and Thursday.
At first we would sit and talk in the front room but eventually I was invited down into the kitchen. Any of you who knew Laura will realise that this is a special privilege as the kitchen was where she held court with her friends!
In the following years we travelled together to both shows and field-trials. Laura provided the packed lunches and I provided the transport. I have often remarked that I served my ‘doggy apprenticeship’ with one of the greats of Irish Dogdom.
From our conversations I realised that there was more than one Laura Dunne ….
There was the Laura Blunn (maiden name) who played camogie and was known as ‘the slasher Blunn’. To my knowledge she played both for Dublin and Leinster and played on at least two occasions at Croke Park. Laura use to say with a smile that as a Protestant she had kissed more bishops rings than most Catholics! It was the custom at the time that at the important matches that the team would be introduced to the local Catholic bishop and he would throw in the ball at the beginning of the game.
There was Laura Dunne the champion diver and swimmer, who won gold for diving and silver for swimming in the Irish Championships. I remember her telling me with much glee that as there was no diving boards high enough to practice her diving, she had been given permission by Dublin Port & Docks to dive from their cranes into the Liffey.
Finally there was Laura Dunne the ‘Red Setter Woman’. Laura told me that her family had been involved with Red Setters as far back as her great-grandfather. After being involved with the breed for ten years she registered her Mullencluain prefix with the Irish Kennel Club in 1940. She bred eight champions, some of them winners in Field Trials. The Mullencluain lines can be found in Mrs Tuite’s champion Astley’s Portia of Rua, who won Best of Show in Crufts in 1981 and also in Mrs Kay Bride’s Pairc-na-Glas, who in turn bred two French Dual Champions and one International Field Trial Champion. On the international scene, many of her dogs became Champions and Field-trial Champions in both America and Canada. However one that she was particularly proud of was a National and International Champion Tarry de la Fougere Rouge top winning dog who won 22 C.A.C.s, 17 C.A.C.I.B.F.T.Q., 1 CACT 8-1 (R) CACT. The dame of this dog was Mullencluain Muse, who had two generations of Mullencluain breeding behind her.
For the last number of years her companion was a Red Setter dog named Con, given her by Trudy Walsh. However when Con died it took a lot out of Laura and I remember her saying to me “It’s time to go!”
In Laura’s passing not only have I lost a friend but also a mentor who shared all her knowledge and life-long experience of gundogs. I am sure that at long last she is with her beloved Peter in a special part of heaven that has a good hill with grouse and a few Red Setters. I will leave the last word with a lifelong friend of Laura’s, Mrs Costello who said to me as we walked out of the church “Terry, it is the end of an era!”.
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Canon P. Doherty.
Canon P Doherty the President of the Irish Red and White Setter Club.
May he rest in peace.
TRIBUTE TO CANON P. DOHERTY
BY
TERRY O'LEARY
It was through my first involvement with Irish Red & White Setters in 1977 that I first became aware of Canon Pat Doherty or ‘The Canon’ as he was affectionately known to those who later came to know and admire him. Sean Walsh, a very good friend of mine and founder member of the Irish Red & White Setter Club, told me how he first met the Canon walking a red dog with a white blaze on his face, chest and four white feet. The colour of the dog intrigued Sean so he approached the Canon to ask him about this dog.
This was the start of a friendship that was to last over the years for they both had a common passion for shooting over Irish Setters and in later years Irish Red & White Setters. Although the Canon and Maureen were well known for Champions and Best of Breed winners from their Sheebhin Kennels, it was the Canon’s passion for hunting that I will most remember him for. It was his belief that no matter how good a dog’s confirmation was or how pretty it looked that it must also be able to hunt. A man who fully understood that an Irish Red & White Setter should be fit for function long before this term was commonly used and widely discussed as it is today. I have always felt that the Canon would have made an excellent Fieldtrial Judge had he been a younger man. The wealth of experience he gained over the years of hunting with his dogs gave him an insight on how a dog should work that cannot be gained by the mere reading of books.
The Canon was in the true sense of the word a gentle man but over the years in his capacity as President of the Irish Red & White Setter Club he showed himself on more than one occasion to be a strong and decisive individual when needed. I attended the Canon’s Requiem Mass in Rathmore, Co. Kerry on 25th July 2009. The Irish Red & White Setter Club was represented by David Byrne, Mark Ruymbeke, Trudy Walsh and myself. The Mass was also attended by Tom Creamar a former president of the IKC and his wife Kay. A message from Sean Delmar President of the IKC was read out at the Mass expressing his condolences and acknowledging the Canon’s involvement in the revival of the Irish Red & White Setter.
Despite the fact that the Canon was retired as Parish Priest of Rathmore since 1995 one could not but be impressed by the huge turnout of the Rathmore parishioners young and old alike. The Canon was laid to rest in the church ground as is the tradition in the parish.
Afterwards we were invited to lunch in the community hall which is within the church grounds. It is there that I discussed the Canon and his love of dogs and hunting with Donal O’Leary (no relation) a long time friend of the Canon’s, who used to handle the Canon’s dogs in the odd fieldtial and one or two of the Canon’s old shooting buddies. We all agreed that seeing as how the Canon had given a lifetime of service to the Church, surely, when he got to Heaven there was a hillside waiting for him where he can run his much loved Irish Red & White Setters and hunt woodcock!
Ar Dheis Dé go raibh a anam.
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