Reply to thread

Message: [QUOTE="DarthGrumpy, post: 2833276, member: 2141"] Just as a follow-up, I went with Hurling. I was able to catch in-person at Dr. Crokes Park in Killarney the Intermediate (age 16-18) Kerry County Hurling between Kilgarvan and Causeway, which Kilgarvan won.[SIZE=4] Sat next to some Kilgarvan fans who helped us watch the game. A Cuaseway player even attached a Kilgarvan coach/trainer who was on the field for an injury with his Ash (stick) and wasn't even called for a foul or red carded (dismissed). That was a bit hard to explain, LOL. This was very helpful the following day as the pubs were too crowded and boisterous to get an explication of anything during the All-Ireland Final. We stopped just outside Dingle (Quinn's Pub) for lunch and a few pints was we did not have enough time to make it into Dingle and find parking after spending the morning driving up and down Connor Pass (down in the fog was a bit freaky), a visit to Gallarus Oratory, and a drive around Slea Head Drive in the morning. The pub was packed (heard Dingle was much worse) with everyone watching the match between Limerick and two-time defending champs Galway for the All-Ireland Hurling Championship, i.e. Liam MacCarthy Trophy. The game was played in front of +80,000 fans at Croke Park in Dublin and watched by close to 75% of households in Ireland (the other 25% were likely in Pubs like us). It was a sloppy game at first before Limerick really started to put up points only for Galway to close the gap to 1 with 2 minutes left, which is how it ended - Limerick 3-16 (25) over Galway 2-18 (24). The game really turned at the end when a pair of Limerick players were injured (common issue in a sport where people fly all over the field, can tackle opponents like in rugby while swinging around baseball-sized wooden sticks like lax while only wearing helmets). Basically, its a point for hitting the sliotar (ball) with one's Ash up through the goal posts like rugby or football and its 3 for getting the sliotar by any means (throw, kick, hit with an Ash) into the lower net past the goalkeeper like in soccer. Overall, it was a fun game to watch and a great environment to be in. Ironically, two days later, we stayed in Limerick to check out King John's Castle and to rest in a hotel (instead of B&B for once) on our way to the Cliffs of Moher the next day. Thus, we had a bird's eye view of the party going on in Limerick as the team presented to Liam MacCarthy Trophy just to the west of our hotel and then those 90,000 fans promptly marched past our hotel to celebrate in downtown Limerick after. I thought about going out to join the festivities; but, my wife and I were exhausted after our Skellig Micheal trip that day. [/SIZE] [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach