Virginity Lost

 Reasonably early start, walking to a bus stop 25 minutes away so that we could catch the H3 to Howth Summit though ended up catching the #6 to Howth Village as it came along first and standing in the cool breeze wasn’t pleasant.

There were some rather stately homes along Howth Rd which were worthy of being photographed if the bus was moving slower.

The trip was about 35 minutes (approximately 15kms) and like all public transport in and around Dublin the cost was €2 and if we had used more public transport within 90 minutes of our initial tag-on there would be no further charge.

As the route went past Howth Summit before getting to the village we decide to get off there and walk the path across the cliff top to the village, taking in the views

The 3 to 4km walk brought us back to Howth Village which is a rather pleasant fishing village on a peninsula north east of Dublin

and as well as many tourists there were 2 seals watching the passers-by from their watery home

A nice seafood chowder for lunch followed by a walk past other restaurants on the pier and it was back to the train station to get our €2 ride back into the city alighting at Connolly Station

Just like yesterday there were hoards of people in their team colours - Green for Limerick and Yellow for Clare - and it was again obvious that there was a significant game in town again today.

Our research had shown that it was the semi-final of the All Ireland Hurling competition at the famed Croke Park and we were going as well!

I had had numerous conversations in the past with my old golfing buddy John from Belfast as he used to play hurling to a good standard (or so he told me) but had never seen it played and this was too good an opportunity to miss.

A quick coffee in the city and we then joined the throngs walking the 30 minutes or so to the ground - there was that sense of excitement all around us and we soaked the atmosphere in.

Our seats were in the upper deck behind one of the goals, the teams were warming up and the crowd were cheering and singing.

National anthem done we sat back and watched trying to understand the rules (are there any) as the game progressed. We were treated to an exciting and close game, Limerick coming from behind in the last couple of minutes to pip Clare by 2 points in what the Irish Independent called an epic semi-final

Not sure how John survived such a rough game.

The continuous movement and the skill of the players shooting 1 pointers from over halfway coupled with the crowd involvement had us fully invested in the game.

Now that our “cherries have been popped”, so to speak,  I’d love to see more games of hurling, particularly of this quality.

Walked the 2 or 3ks from the ground to the pub at the end of the street where our accommodation is located along with many of the 56,892 crowd which had spread out over the road halting all traffic.

Managed to get a table, many didn’t and ended out in the street, and enjoyed a traditional pub Sunday carvery 

Another day in paradise comes to an end