Limerick's Queen takes 2014 Blue Jean title

Limerick’s Kate Manning, a 25 year-old microbiology analyst, has been crowned the 2014 Blue Jean Country Queen in Athboy, at the end of a very exciting festival weekend.
Kate, a member of Limerick City Macra na Feirme, beat off competition from 24 entrants from all over Ireland and overseas to take the title where she received €1,000 worth of prizes sponsored by Stephens Cooke &Co. .
Runner up was Tara McEnteggart of Louth’s Fanebridge club who was presented with €600 sponsored by O’Reilly Hoofcare and in third place was Joanne Casey from Berrings Club in Cork’s Muskerry Region, presented with €300 sponsored by Gilsenan Brothers.
Celebrating it’s 27th festival, members of Meath Macra na Feirme, organisers of the event, were delighted with all aspects of the weekend. With just the right amount of sunshine, huge crowds and a massive array of events organised over the weekend, it was just the recipe to turn this year’s festival into one of the most successful to date.
Kicking off Friday night, when the Queens were interviewed on stage in front of an enthusiastic audience, the fun and craic flowed until Monday afternoon as live music was still playing throughout the town of Athboy, the home of the festival.
Chairperson Celine Smyth praised and thanked the community of Athboy for their enormous support throughout the year in preparing for the event.  She thanked secretary Caoimhe Leavy and all the organising committee for the endless hours of work they had done to ensure the weekend was a success and finally to the sponsors who without their support the festival couldn’t happen.