NISSA Shears and Net-Tex Circuit Grand Finale at Antrim Show 2016

It will be the last stage of the highly contested Net-Tex Colate Sheep Shearing Circuit which has been accumulating from early May.

The Net-Tex Circuit is as always a very important fixture for shearers across the 32 counties, but this year in particular, as the top placed Northern Ireland Open competitor will be joining the NI team for the Golden Shears World Championships in Invercargill, New Zealand, to be held in February 2017.

The Northern Ireland Team already consists of Jack Robinson from Claudy acting as team captain and machine shearer. The wool handlers will be Jayne Harkness-Bones (Crumlin) and Rachel Murphy (Antrim). For the first time in history, Northern Ireland hopes to send a full team with the addition of two blade shearers Sam McConnell (Ballymartin) and Chris Coulter (Ballyclare). The last spot on the team will be closely contested by the top Northern Ireland open competitors in the circuit.

Check-in for NISSA Shears will open at 11am, Antrim Show Grounds with entries taken on the day. The results of the circuit will be announced after the open final later in the afternoon.

A spokesperson from NISSA commented: “We are really looking forward to see how the circuit works out, not only for the open, but all four classifications as the competitors across all grades have supported it fully from the word go. We are again very thankful to Net-Tex for their continued sponsorship and support of the circuit, without which we could not host the prestigious event.”

Circuit standings before grand finale:

Junior- Joe Kerlin, 63, 1st, Liam Kelly, 42, 2nd, Robert Douglas, 38, 3rd, Ryan Adams, 37, 4th, Iain Wilson, 6, 5th

Intermediate - Barry Devine, 54, 1st, Russell Smyth, 48, 2nd, Joe Boylan, 44, 3rd, Ronald Kennedy, 37, 4th, Trevor Wilson, 33, 5th

Senior - Graeme Davidson, 68, 1st, Stephen Morgan, 48, 2nd, Jason McNiece, 39, 3rd, Finn Butler, 35, 4th, Jonathan McKelvey, 31, 5th

Open - Jack Robinson, 79, 1st, Ian Montgomery, 48, 2nd, Tom Perry, 42, 3rd, Jimmy McAuley, 38, 4th, Robert Davidson, 35, 5th

For further information/queries contact 07786 443458.

Keep up to date with results and images on the NISSA Facebook page.