Kerryman wins All Ireland

Sean Egan was elated when he spoke to the Celt on Wednesday afternoon. Understandably so. The North Kerry man had just won the All Ireland Onion Championship for his five onions in the 250g category.

In doing so, he reclaimed the crown he also won last year, on his first outing to Virginia Show.

"It's unbelievable," said the Tarbert man. "There was a lot of work went into it."

He's not exaggerating. He has the Japanese onion over winter in his polytunnel until March.

"From about 100 onion starts I'll pick 27 and I'll grow those on, and I'm hoping then to get five," said Sean who also won in beetroot section.

Sean is fastidious about ensuring uniformity in both appearance and weight.

"They all weigh 250g. I'll measure the circumference of the onion while they're growing. Once I now the circumference, I know their weight - so when they are 26.7cm circumference I'll pull them.

"At that circumference they weigh about 260g. Then you trim the roots, trim the greens, you wash them, dry them well and put them in to a cool dark place with plenty of air for about three months.

"And you are hoping and praying they stay good for today."

Those prayers were answered.

To make it through to Virginia the competitors had to win a qualifying company. As such, beside Sean's display were onions from Athlone, Cork, Dublin, two sets from Leitrim, and others from Roscommon, and Sligo.

Raymond Higgins, Chairman of the National Vegetable Society described the winning onions as "brilliant".

"It's a perfect set, you can see the uniformity, they look exactly like peas in a pod, and there's that beautiful straw colour on the outside.

"It's been well looked after. And the necks are really thin, and that means they are going to last long."

Raymond noted the margin of the win reflected the quality of the onions.

"There's five points between second and first, so that's a huge clear winner in our world," explained Raymond.