Aiden Fogarty, Ballincanty, Blueball had his eye very much on the ball as he won an amazing haul of silverware. 26 years of age, he won the overall High Gun of Ireland, senior High Gun of Ireland, New Cap High Gun and the overall high Gun of the Tournament with a score of 149 out of 150.

This prestigious tournament rotates between Northern Ireland, Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales every five years while teams from Jersey and the Isle of Man also compete - Ireland will next host the tournament at Esker in Banagher in 2014.

Aiden's shooting was remarkably accurate over the two days - Last Friday, he hit 99 out of 100 targets, missing just one target in his second shoot while on Saturday, he got 50 out of 50 as the Irish team battled with everything they had.

Son of Ger and Angela Fogarty, Aiden took up shooting at sixteen years of age and has been a registered member of the Irish Clay Pigeon Shooting Association for the last two years.

His sharp shooting was instrumental in the Irish senior team finishing runner up in the tournament for the first time, behind England and ahead of Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man and Jersey. It was a historic result for Ireland who were behind in fourth position after day one with England top on a score of 491 ex 500, Wales and Northern Ireland on 486 and Ireland a single target adrift on 485.

On day two, Aiden's shooting was sensational. Two 50 straights from Aiden and Brian Smith from Birr with a 49 from Gordon Roulston over turned an over night deficit of one target into a surplus of seven and while England increased their lead by a single target it was still an outstanding result for the team. A six shot deficit was too much to haul back in the battle for first spot but Ireland still did very well to edge ahead of Wales and Northern Ireland as England won the tournament on 734 and Ireland were on 727.

Aiden Fogarty has enjoyed considerable success at clay pigeon shooting, devoting countless hours of practice to his chosen sport but this was his most successful outing by a distance. He has been in great form this year, winning the High Gun as best shooter at national skeet events in February, April and July at Esker Shooting Grounds in Banagher. This was only his seventh skeet tournament to participate in, making his success all the more extraordinary - Skeet is a discipline where targets are thrown in singles and doubles from two trap houses (A low and a high one) some forty metres apart at opposite ends of a semi-circular arc on which there are seven shooting positions. The targets are thrown at set trajectories and speeds and in national skeet, the gun position is optional (pre-mounted or out of shoulder) and the targets are released immediately upon the shooter's call.

He earned his selection on the Irish team for last week's big international event in a shoot out a couple of weeks ago when he managed to hit 98, 98, 99, 89, 99 and 99 out of 100 targets in his six rounds. He specialises in the skeet and sporting disciplines in clay pigeon shooting. Next on the itinerary for him is the sporting Home Countries International Tournament in Wales in two weeks time - Sporting has the biggest following in Ireland and while the other disciplines use only standard targets, in sporting almost anything goes. Targets are thrown in a great variety of trajectories, angles, speeds, elevations and distances and the discipline was originally devised to simulate live quarry shooting.

Aiden's brother Ciaran is also a talented shooter and was on the Offaly squad along with Aiden, and Brian Smith, that finished runners up behind Westmeath in the All Counties Squad Championships on the bank holiday Monday, August 6.
A member of Killoughey Gun Club, Aiden was a new cap on the Irish national skeet team, which makes his shooting all the more remarkable. It was unheard of for a new cap to win so many awards and his achievement can be put into context by the fact that the world champion and runner up, both from England, finished behind him - Indeed, the English contingent were stunned at Aiden's success.

Clay pigeon shooting enthusiasts here were also thrilled by the manner in which Ireland challenged England - The dominant force in a sport which is very much in the minority category in Ireland. There are 800 members of the Irish Clay Pigeon Shooting Association and approximately only thirty of these specialise in skeet while the English association has 30,000 members with 10,000 concentrating on skeet.

The Irish team last weekend was greatly enhanced by the presence of the three new caps, Aiden, Brian Smith and Mark Craven from Athlone and the development of the Esker Shooting Range in Banagher has been instrumental in the current well being of the sport in midlands. Last year, Ireland finished fifth out of seventh in this tournament, with Jersey and the Isle of Man, who normally just make up the numbers, behind them and their progress this year has been greeted with delight.