The Sport of The Irish

Alice Higgins Dublin, Ireland

Date

March 16, 2018
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It’s Paddy’s weekend this weekend? Wow, we hardly would have noticed. It’s not like Dublin has become a sea of green and is teeming with excited tourists! I joke, town is BUZZING and the excitement is brimming as hundreds of thousands of people flock to the capital for the annual celebrations. With the big parade expecting half a million people, you can only imagine how packed our tiny city feels right now. The funny thing is though, although a lot of tourists will head to the parade, there won’t be too many Irish gracing the streets of the beautiful Temple Bar, most of them will be at a different kind of Irish celebration.

St. Patrick’s weekend is a national holiday in Ireland and so there is a bank holiday on Monday. A long weekend with no work will take lots of people out of the city, but it also means there is lots of time for sport. As you may or may not know, GAA is our national sport. Gaelic football is the most popular, but hurling comes in at a close second with the less popular hand-ball taking the rear. Every year on Patrick’s day the GAA football and hurling club championships are played in Croke Park, Ireland’s national stadium. This year is no different and for football Galway’s ‘Corofin’ club will be taking on Cork’s ‘Nemo Ranger’s’ at 2pm. These teams will have first won their county final, then played the other counties for the title of their province and now will battle it out for the coveted All Ireland title. The same string of matches culminates at this point for the hurling championship and this year sees Dublin’s ‘Cuala’ club taking on Limerick’s ‘Na Piarsaigh’ team. Both matches are played one after the other and the atmosphere at Croke Patrick will be electric.

Another huge sporting moment is also taking place this weekend in the form of rugby. The last couple of months have had us following the NatWest 6 Nations Championship and it has been a nail biting tournament. This championship works on a points system, with points being granted for a win, along with varying other factors. Ireland have managed to win all of their matches so far and are at such a point’s advantage that they have actually already won the championship with a game still to play. Although that may seem like an incredible feat (which it is) there is a hugely important match happening tomorrow.

Ireland’s biggest rivals have always been England. Although there are no hard feelings between the two nations anymore, when it comes to sport they are arch enemies. Nothing feels better than beating the English. Can you guess, who we are playing tomorrow, on St. Patrick’s Day? Yup, you got it.. England. So, you may think ‘who cares, you’ve already won the championship.’ But oh no, there is so much more to this match. First and foremost, there is a Grand Slam up for grabs. What that means is if Ireland win this match, they have not only won the championship, but they have also beaten every other team in the tournament. This rarely happens as it is a very strong competition and to win a Grand Slam is a monumental achievement. Ireland have been on top form all through the league but, unfortunately, we can’t get our hopes up too much. For one, we are playing in Twickenham and, much and all as we like beating the English, they very much also enjoy beating the Irish! On top of this, England will be looking for revenge. They were in the same position as us last year and we beat them in the Aviva to take away their chance at the Grand Slam. They won the championship, but losing the Grand Slam and their final match of the tournament left a bitter taste in their mouths.

So, as your frolicking around Temple Bar tomorrow and haven’t caught sight of an Irish person I can guarantee three places you will find them; Croke Park, Twickenham and in many of the bars outside the city centre screaming at TV’s in the hope to help the boys win the Grand Slam (I can assure you that’s where I’ll be!!)