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Results of the Ireland Final of the Young Horticulturist of the Year Competition 2015
- 21 April 2015
The Chartered Institute of Horticulture (CIoH)Annual Young Horticulturist of the Year (YHoY) 2015 competition completed its local heats last month in all the horticultural colleges in the island of Ireland (North and South). The students with the highest score went through to the Ireland Final which was held on 16th of April in theVisitors' centre in the Phoenix Park in Dublin.The day-long event started off with a tour of the immaculately kept organic vegetable garden of OPWby Brian Quinn, followed by a wonderful lunch provided for by the Phoenix Caféin the sun.
Thelarge crowd of fellow students and staff then proceeded into the Visitors' centre of OPW to support their star horticulturalists in the quiz. It was an excellent quiz with a clear winner,Francis Mulhollandfrom CAFRE, Greenmount Campus, who took the lead in round three and retained it all the way. Second and third were Conor Gallinagh and Micháel Byrne, both from UCD. The overall order of all of the contestants at the end of the quiz was:
| Franscis Mulholland | CAFRE Greenmount Campus Co., Antrim |
| Conor Gallinagh | UCD, Co. Dublin |
| Michael Byrne | UCD, Co. Dublin |
| Sinead Hickey | ITB, Co. Dublin |
| Brian Walsh | CIT/Teagasc College Clonakilty, Co. Cork |
| Joel Cathcart | CAFRE Greenmount Campus, Co. Antrim |
| Caithriona | ITB, Co. Dublin |
| James Greene | Teagasc College, Kildalton, Co. Dublin |
Francis Mulhollandwon a voucher of €200 (courtesy of BordBia), a fork and spade (courtesy of Bulldog) and the beautiful book 'The Irish Garden' by Jane Powers and Jonathan Hession. He will represent Ireland in the CIoHGrand Final which will be held this year atBarrington Court, a National Trust property with stunning gardens in Somerset, England on May 9th 2015.We wish him all the best. The overall winner in the Grand Final will win a travel bursary of £2000, which is sponsored by the Shropshire Horticultural Society.
The Ireland Branch of the Chartered Institute of Horticulture is very grateful for the continued support and sponsorship fromBordBia, without whom it would not be possible to host such a wonderful event.
