One lady who knows how to wield a pair of sheep shears is Colette Deegan of Co. Kerry.  This  top flight lady sheep shearer earlier today won the grand and very prestigious title of Queen of the Shears.  A great achievement against stiff competition for this petite female champion, who has been shearing sheep on father’s farm since the age of 12. This afternoon she had competition of a different kind. Colette met Michelin star chef Derry Clarke, owner of Dublin’s L’Ecrivain restaurant, in a Cook off Challenge in the Good Food Ireland Kitchen Theatre at the Golden Shears World Sheep Shearing and Wool Handling Championships 2014. Colette was joined on stage by Emily, a fellow lady shearer on the US team. The pair strode proudly on stage to meet Derry, one of the cookery world’s largest personalities and a man of skill and style in the kitchen. Neither girl professed to be an expert cook – but neither of them was fazed by taking on a man of considerable reputation either! (It’s a secret but the girls had a bit of behind the scene help beforehand from Ed Cooney, Executive Chef of The Merrion Hotel Dublin!) Battle commenced, and with it a heap of fun and banter between the three cooks. Judges chosen from the audience had a genuinely difficult decision to make, with the two girls just coming ahead of Derry with their dish. A double success for Colette. We enjoyed every minute and wish her well in her Queen of the Shears success.