With straight firsts, Field Marshal Montgomery wins All-Ireland Championship for the 28th time

Derry/Londonderry, Northern Ireland – July 5, 2025 – Field Marshal Montgomery won the 2025 All-Ireland Championships against a field of three other Grade 1 bands, gaining their record twenty-eighth victory of the event.

The band won both the Medley and MSR, all eight judges awarding firsts and the Best Bass Drumming prize.

The competition was held in the main square in the middle of Northern Ireland’s second-largest city. Bands tuned wherever they could find space, and the crowd was fully integrated with the event. (In 2004, pipes|drums published an opinion piece advocating the idea of “Urban Scottish Festivals.”)

It was the seventy-eighth running of the All-Ireland Championships, an event started in 1946 as a joint effort to bring the north and south of Ireland together. The contest alternates countries each year, and is organized jointly by the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association Northern Ireland Branch and the Irish Pipe Band Association.

Grade 1 (four competed)
Overall
1st Field Marshal Montgomery (Northern Ireland)
2nd St. Laurence O’Toole (Republic of Ireland)
3rd Closkelt (Northern Ireland)
4th Ravara (Northern Ireland)

Medley
1st Field Marshal Montgomery (1,1,1,1)
2nd St. Laurence O’Toole (2,2,2,2)
3rd Closkelt (3,3,4,3)
4th Ravara (4,4,3,4)
Bass Drumming: Field Marshal Montgomery
Judges: Richard Parkes, John Reville (piping); Keith Orr (drumming); Mark Faloon (ensemble)

MSR (Minimum four-parted tunes MSR)
1st 1st Field Marshal Montgomery (1,1,1,1)
2nd St. Laurence O’Toole (2,2,2,2)
3rd Closkelt (3,3,4,3)
4th Ravara (4,4,3,4)
Bass Drumming: Field Marshal Montgomery
Judges: Colin Moffett, D. Middleton (piping); Paul Turner (drumming); Robert Mathieson (ensemble)

Grade 2 (MSR, three competed)
1st Mannorcunningham (1,1,2,1)
2nd St. Joseph’s Clondalkin (2,2,3,2)
3rd Tullylagan (3,3,1,3)
Bass Drumming: Tullylagan
Judges: Judges: Richard Parkes, John Reville (piping); Keith Orr (drumming); Mark Faloon (ensemble)

Grade 3A (Medley, nine entered)
1st Irvine Memorial (1,5,2,1)
2nd Matt Boyd Memorial (2,3,3,4)
3rd Cloughfin (5,2,4,3)
4th Major Sinclair Memorial (4,1,5,8)
5th Clogher & District (6,7,7,2) (ens.pref.)
6th McNeillstown (7,8,1,6) (ens.pref.)
7th Kildoag (3,4,8,7)
8th Cullybackey (8,6,6,5)
9th Uddingston Strathclyde (9,9,9,9)
Bass Drumming: Matt Boyd Memorial
Judges: D. Middleton, B. MacMahon (piping); D. Doyle (drumming); Robert Mathieson (ensemble)

Grade 3B (Medley, five competed)
1st Syerla & District (1,1,1,1)
2nd Drumlough (3,3,2,2) (ens.pref.)
3rd Upper Crossgare (2,2,3,3)
4th William Kerr Memorial (4,5,4,4)
5th Ballyboley (5,4,5,5)
Bass Drumming: Drumlough
Judges: Richard Parkes, John Reville (piping); Keith Orr (drumming); Mark Faloon (ensemble)

Grade 4A (MSR, nine competed)
1st Black Raven (2,1,1,1)
2nd Altnaveigh Memorial (1,2,7,4)
3rd Thiepval Memorial (6,3,2,5)
4th Raphoe Ulster Scots (4,8,5,3)
5th Moneygore (5,5,4,7)
6th Gransha (9,7,6,2)
7th Cullen (3,4,9,9)
8th New Ross & District (7,9,3,8)
9th Cottown (8,6,8,6)
Bass Drumming: Black Raven
Judges: Colin Moffett, Tim Farrelly (piping); Paul Turner (drumming); Terry Tully (ensemble)

Grade 4B (March Selection, 15 competed)
1st Carrigaline (3,3,1,1)
2nd Youghal (7,2,2,3) (ens.pref.)
3rd Riverside Alliance (1,1,7,5)
4th Letterkenny & District (2,4,9,2)
5th City of Limerick (5,5,8,4) (ens.pref.)
6th Bready Ulster Scots (4,7,3,8)
7th Queen Elizabeth (6,9,5,7)
8th Down Academy (9,12,4,10)
9th Tullylagan (10,6,11,9)
10th Hollymount (8,10,14,6)
11th Clonoe Independent (11,14,6,12)
12th Major Sinclair Memorial (13,8,13,11)
13th McDonald Memorial (12,13,10,14)
14th Raffrey (14,11,12,13)
15th Middletown Police Benefit Association (15,15,15,15)
Bass Drumming: Youghal
Judges: D. Middleton, Ronan Maguire (piping); Stephen Creighton (drumming); Robert Mathieson (ensemble)