The Oktoberfest Beag back in Cork for another year

Posted on September 5, 2012 by Seamus O'Murchu

Most of the festivals highlighted throughout the country celebrate various aspects of our proud Irish heritage, and as a European and multicultural country we also like to celebrate and acknowledge the traditions of our neighbours. One upcoming event which celebrates the food, drink and customs of another nation is the Paulaner Oktoberfest Beag allowing us to don lederhosen and embrace a true German spirit for a few days.
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Dublin Ireland – The capital comes alive with a weekend of two contrasting football championships

Posted on September 4, 2012 by Seamus O'Murchu

This weekend proved to be a dynamic sporting occasion in the capital with two national football championships taking place within 24 hours of each other. On Saturday we had the rare thrill of witnessing US College American Football season in action, playing for only the second time in its history on foreign shores (first time was in our own Croke Park in 1996) when Notre Dame played Navy in the Emerald Isle Classic at the Aviva Stadium with the aptly named Notre Dame Fighting Irish delivering a comprehensive win.

And on Sunday back in our own national football championships, we had the long awaited second national football semi-final when Mayo played defending champions Dublin in Croke Park. Despite a close finish, dark horses of the completion Mayo provided another upset in this seasons championships, after Donegal‘s surprising win over Cork last weekend, to secure their first final appearance in six years. They will now face Donegal in the final on 22nd September with only one thing certain, whatever the result there will be a new All Ireland football champion for the 2012 football season. With Dublin being the last football champions of the past number of years to fall in a championship which has been full of shocks and surprises, this championship has seen the old guards and past champions of recent years fall to fresh blood and could mark a turning point in a championship that had been become predictable. Continue reading →

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Sporting and Supporting Ireland!

Posted on September 3, 2012 by Seamus O'Murchu

What a weekend for Sport in Ireland and for our Sporting Stars representing Ireland.

In London, Ireland’s Paralympians have been racking up the medals across a number of disciplines and smashing world records whilst they are at! The medal count for Ireland is now at 4 Gold’s, 2 Silver’s and 1 Bronze and there is still plenty of more action to come and chances for medals as the games progress this week.
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Dingle Food Festival

Posted on August 31, 2012 by Seamus O'Murchu

While midsummer is the time of year for a range of arts festivals up and down the country as summer is ending and we draw onto autumn, the food festivals kick into gear. September and October it appears are the months for genuine lovers of good food with a number of key food festivals highlighting the best of Irish food, drink and local culture. In the next few weeks expect to see the towns of Skibbereen in West Cork (Taste of West Cork festival 10-16th Sept) the cities of Waterford (Waterford Harvest Festival 10-16th September) and Galway (Galway Oyster Festival 28-30th September) showcase the best in local produce and cooking in conjunction with a fun resident festival vibe.

And if one is interested in even more food festivals and top cooking, then in October one can look forward to the Dingle Food and Wine Festival in the beautiful scenic region of Dingle peninsula. An area of outstanding natural beauty, being in lonely planets top 100 places on earth, Dingle is also renowned for the quality of local food with seafood a highlight, showcased in its many top restaurants and highlighted to the full in this delightful and overlooked festival.

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Paralympics 2012 begins in London

Posted on August 30, 2012 by Seamus O'Murchu

Last night was the opening ceremony to the London 2012 Paralympics games, and what a spectacular opening, beginning with a segment depicting the Big Bang, appearances from Sir Ian McKellen and Professor Stephen Hawking’s and a massive 3,000 volunteers taking part.
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Beware the weather forecast – Donegal records a sunny summer despite gloomy weather predictions

Posted on August 29, 2012 by Seamus O'Murchu

With Donegal beating Cork to get a place in the All-ireland final, 2012 it appears to be Donegal and the Northwests year: by weather standards if not in sport, not that the general public would know. For it appears that despite weather reports from Met Eireann that continually forecasted rainy weather nationwide, Donegal and the northwest of the country had a summer of sunshine and clear skies. So off has RTE’s weather forecasts been for the northwest that some local councillors in Donegal claim that the RTE meteorologists have neglected to accurately represent the whole of the country concentrating instead on the more well-known tourist counties of Cork, Kerry and Dublin. Continue reading →

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Emerald Isle Classic to attract thousands of Americans

Posted on August 28, 2012 by Seamus O'Murchu

This Saturday 1st September, The Emerald Isle Classic between Notre Dame and Navy from the USA kicks off at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin at the local time of 2pm, marking the start of the Football season. The two teams have only met and played outside the United States on one other occasion and that was at Dublin’s Croke Park in 1996, some 16 years ago.

With up to 35,000 American expected to travel to Dublin for what is being billed as one of the most talked about games of the US College American Football Season, many will be combining this game with their stay over here to make it a longer vacation in Ireland.
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Donegal’s win over Cork secures their first All-Ireland final spot for 20 years

Posted on August 27, 2012 by Seamus O'Murchu

This years national football championship final looks set to be out of the ordinary as outsiders Donegal will play for the first time in 20 years in an All-Ireland football final following their surprising win over Cork in Croke Park yesterday. The Ulster team once more provided an upset as this time it was Cork, winners in 2010, who fell to the Ulster champions who continue on their unstoppable march to the final. With victory secured the Ulster champions will now play in this years All-Ireland Football final held in Croke Park on the 22nd September for the first time since 1992.

After leading narrowly by a point going into half-time, Donegal put in a powerful and determined display in the second half to rout the Cork defence and work up a five point lead in the 58th minute. And while the Munster team Cork responded gamely to make up the deficit even scoring a late injury time goal, it was not enough as Donegal held on to win by two points, the score 0-16 to 1-11. Continue reading →

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Irish Golfers hit the headlines again

Posted on August 24, 2012 by Seamus O'Murchu

Dubliner Padriag Harrington shot to the top of the leader board at The Barclays in Farmingdale as he went on the hunt for his first US tour title since winning the 2008 US PGA Championship.

Harrington racked up a superb seven under par 64 to take the lead by the tightest of margins – just 1 stroke and during the day hit eight birdies, six of which were on the last seven holes, as he finished seven under par on the par 71 course.
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Tall Ships Coming to Dublin Ireland!

Posted on August 23, 2012 by Seamus O'Murchu

This week is a busy week and the weekend promises to be even better. With the Rose of Tralee Festival finishing over in Kerry, well done to this years winner Luxemburg Rose Nicola McEvoy, the spotlight now looks set to be on the capital Dublin this upcoming weekend as the Tall Ships Festival come to the capitals port. Like Galway earlier in the summer with the Volvo Ocean Race, Dublin has the great honour of being the final host port for this years running of this prestigious annual international event. Alongside the spectacle of the race with ships from another era, comes a four day extravaganza of festivities and all manner of family friendly events and activities beginning this Thursday 23rd– Sunday 26th August. Continue reading →

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