Eamonn Gaffney wields the gavel at the Coolarty auction.

Coolarty beef farm hits almost €11K an acre

An 86-acre residential farm in North Longford was closing in on the million mark, when the auctioneer's gavel fell.

The Coolarty farm's barn provided the rustic setting for an auction that finally achieved €940,000 for the property sold in one lot on Thursday evening.

“I bet you never spent so much money in a byre before,” quipped auctioneer Eamonn Gaffney as he cajoled bidders up to €920,000.

Within a few minutes of the restart another €20,000 was fetched for the quality land and all was left was for Eamonn to congratulate the auctioneer who had placed the successful bid on behalf of an anonymous client.

The buildings and land (excluding that to the right of the perimeter hedge) fetched €940K at auction.

Previously run as a beef farm, the property located on the main Granard to Edgeworthstown Road belonged to the late Martin Clyne, a very well respected pedigree Charolais breeder. It had been offered with Lot 1 comprising 63 acres with bungalow and farmyard; Lot 2 comprising 23 acres. Bidding was “frantic” from the get-go and after three rounds of bidding on the three lots, it was established that Lot 3, the farm in its entirety would achieve the highest sum. With Lots 1 and 2 withdrawn, the final phase of bidding commenced at €905,000.

“We kept encouraging the under-bidders to keep at it and got it to €940,000,” reported Eamonn.

With hay bales providing the backdrop, sawdust carpeting the floor, and torrential rain providing a sustained drum roll on the corrugated roof, it wasn't a typical auction. Those attending weren't complaining.

“There was lots of anticipation over who was bidding and who was holding off till the very end,” said Eamonn, who described the barn setting as “cosy”.

That interest was bolstered by almost 230 people tuned into the LSL Auction platform live, reportedly an “exceptional” number for an auctioneer's first time sale on the app. This was the highest profile land sale the Cornafean based auctioneer has conducted, and he was understandably pleased by how it went.

Eamonn was particularly gratified to note the family were “very happy” with how the auction was conducted.

“We couldn't have done any more to get the top price for it,” he said.

“We knew it would sell at a good price but we didn't think it would make an exceptional price.”

Is €10,930 an acre a Longford record?

“I'll not put my neck on the line, but it's a while since any land went €11,000 an acre in Longford,” he surmised.