Things to do this weekend -- July 18 to July 20
This Sunday will be a big weekend for Cork and Tipperary GAA fans as the county hurling teams face off in the All Ireland Hurling Championships at Croke Park.
For those who aren't interested in the hurling, there's plenty of things to get stuck into with the family out and about… This Sunday will be a big weekend for Cork and Tipperary GAA fans as the county hurling teams face off in the All Ireland Hurling Championships at Croke Park. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
Here are five of the best activities to do this weekend. You can check out more family days out and summer events on YourDaysOut.
Dublin, July 19 and 20
The Rose Festival returns to St Anne's Park, Dublin this weekend to mark 50 years of the Rose Garden.
The weekend event is family-friendly and free, and promises to be a fun event featuring live music as well as kids' entertainment, crafts, food stalls as well as yoga, tai chi and a dedicated bike park.
Gates open from 10am to 6pm on both days. Pic: YourDaysOut
Mayo, July 12 to 20
The culmination of the Ballina Salmon Festival takes place this weekend with plenty of fun for kids of all ages.
On Friday, the youngsters can bop along at Baby Boppers or try paddle boarding at the Quay, while Saturday features a fun fancy dress disco was well as rockets and slime workshops.
Sunday is the final day of the festival with a Teddy Bears Picnic taking place at Tom Ruane Park.
Attendees to the event can expect plenty of music and games as well as a sensory hour for some quieter play. Pic: YourDaysOut
Dublin, July 19 and 20
This one is for the Lego fanatics in your life! Brick Feile is the biggest LEGO fan event in Ireland and returns to CityNorth Hotel this weekend with stunning custom models, giant brick pits, a live big-build and creative challenges for all ages.
Attendees are invited to check out the displays from Brick.ie, take part in fun builds, shop rare sets and help raise important funds for Fairy Bricks. Pic: YourDaysOut
Meath, July 19 and 20
If fairies are more your scene, why not step into the magical world at Loughcrew Gardens with fairy trails, unicorns, puppets, storytelling and circus fun.
Attendees can enjoy crafts, bubbles, vintage games and enchanting performances from 12pm to 6pm daily.
The weekend promises to be a spellbinding weekend for little believers with big imaginations. Pic: YourDaysOut
Kildare, July 20
Barretstown opens its gates for an exciting family day on Sunday with a range of activities including canoeing, archery, face painting, dancing, mini golf and more!
Fossett's Circus will be on hand on the day, putting on three performances throughout the day (11.15am; 1.15pm and 3.15pm).
Admission to Barretstown Big Picnic is free, though the Circus is a ticketed and should be booked in advance. Pic: YourDaysOut
YourDaysOut.com is Ireland's leading platform for discovering things to do with a booking system built for Irish businesses with local support and at no extra cost.
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Irish Examiner
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'We just got lucky': Tales from the Cork lads who ran merchandise stalls for Oasis in the 1990s
Morty McCarthy remembers the first time he met one of the Gallagher brothers. It was February 1992, and the Cork man and his band, the Sultans of Ping, were sharing a bill with fellow Leesiders the Frank and Walters at the Boardwalk venue in Manchester. A local lad by the name of Noel popped up during the soundcheck to say hello. He'd been rehearsing in one of the other rooms with an unsigned group he said were called 'Oasis', and wanted to reacquaint with the Franks, a band he'd previously worked with as a roadie. Little did anyone there know that the 'sound' 21-year-old and the four lads banging out tunes in the basement were on their way to becoming the biggest band in Britain. Or that McCarthy would have a front seat on the Oasis rollercoaster. As the Sultans' career plateaued, the Greenmount drummer ended up working with the Manchester band's merchandise material in the era when they exploded onto the scene. His switch of career to the merchandise world originated in his Sultans days when, as the non-drinker in the band, McCarthy was the designated van driver. During a period of downtime in early 1994, he heard that their merchandise company Underworld needed somebody to ferry gear to various gigs. McCarthy signed up, and drafted in his childhood pal Damien Mullally when an opening came up for somebody to look after the company's London warehouse. 'Underworld were probably the biggest merchandise outfit in the UK at the time,' recalls McCarthy. 'We just got lucky, because we all started working literally a couple of months before the whole Britpop thing broke. And Underworld not only had Oasis, they also had Pulp.' Liam and Noel Gallagher messing about at Knebworth in 1996. Mullally and McCarthy enjoyed working in the merchandise, travelling to gigs and making the most of life in London. In true Cork style, they'd even managed to secure jobs in Underworld for a few more of their mates from home. Not that it was all plain sailing. There was still an element of anti-Irish feeling in the UK in the mid-1990s – especially in the wake of the IRA bombing of the Bishopsgate financial district in 1993 – and going around in a van full of boxes meant the Cork duo were regularly stopped and questioned at police checkpoints. 'We also got a bit of it around Abbey Wood where we lived, but things were much better when we moved to Hackney, which was more multicultural,' says Mullally. Meanwhile, between April 1994 and the release of Definitely Maybe at the end of August, a real buzz was building around Oasis. The three singles Supersonic, Shakermaker, and Live Forever, had been hitting incrementally higher chart positions, and the album went straight to number one in the UK charts. The Gallagher brothers had arrived. For the Cork duo, the gigs they worked were getting ever busier, and the few dozen t-shirts and other bits they'd previously sold were now getting to hundreds and even thousands of units. Underworld realised they were going to need a bigger boat. Or at least a decent lorry. This created a bit of a conundrum as nobody in the company had the special licence required in the UK. Step forward the lad with the Irish licence which, at the time, was universal and didn't need the special HGV training. 'I'd never even sat in the truck before,' recalls McCarthy, now 55, of the day they went to hire their new vehicle from a yard near King's Cross. 'I just thought, how hard can it be? We got in and the first thing I did was hit a barrier. I was just thinking 'I'm not going to be able to reverse this. So whatever we do, we'll just have to drive it forward'. I suppose we had this 'It'll be grand' attitude. I wouldn't do it at this age!' Morty McCarthy on a merchandise stall back in the 1990s. Life on the road was a mixture of good fun and hard work. Depending on the tour, Mullally and McCarthy would sometimes be living on the crew's bus, or other times driving to venues themselves. Of course there were some late nights and partying along the way, but the Oasis entourage also had a serious work ethic. 'If everybody knew that did a couple of days off, then there might be a big party and a bit of a blowout. But a lot of the time, people were up early to get set up at the next venue, and working long hours through the day. You wouldn't have been able to do your job if you were partying all the time,' says Mullally, now working at the Everyman theatre in Cork. 'People got on very well on tour. You knew you just couldn't be invading people's private space or doing the langer in any way.' The band themselves travelled in a different bus, but both Mullally and McCarthy recall the Gallagher brothers as being down-to-earth lads who were always pleasant to deal with. 'I think because we were Irish, that helped too,' says Mullally. 'Yes,' agrees McCarthy. 'I even remember Noel joking with us about Taytos and Tanora!' He does recall a friendly disagreement before a gig in Bournemouth when Liam Gallagher fancied his footwear. 'We had this Dutch driver who used to come every week delivering merchandise, and he used to sell Adidas off the back of the truck. I'd bought this pair of orange Adidas. Liam collected Adidas trainers. He was like 'I'm having your trainers.' And I was going no, and he was like '100 quid!'.' While it was predominantly merchandise that kept Mullally and McCarthy involved with Oasis, they also dropped a load of equipment for the band to Rockfield Studios in 1995. Those sessions at the Welsh studio would of course spawn (What's the Story) Morning Glory?,the second album that would propel the band to stratospheric levels of popularity. On the road, part of the Cork duo's job was dealing with the increasing amount of bootleggers who were selling unofficial merchandise near the venues. 'We'd go out to chat to them, and then of course it'd turn out that a lot of them were friends of the Gallaghers from Manchester,' says Mullally. 'They were mostly nice guys so you'd just ask them to push back a bit – 'Just go down to the end of the road to sell your stuff'.' The mid-1990s was an era when everything was paid for in cash. This meant the two Cork lads would sometimes end up with tens of thousands worth of banknotes in cardboard boxes or plastic bags in the back of the truck or in a hotel after a gig. Liam and Noel Gallagher of Oasis arriving at Cork Airport in 1996. Picture: Dan Linehan An event like Knebworth in 1996 – when Oasis played to 250,000 people across two days – created even more issues. 'A few times a day we used to do a cash-run to get the money off the stall. Somebody would come along with a backpack and we'd stuff it with maybe 10 grand in notes," says Mullally. "You'd try to be as inconspicuous as you could walking through the crowd with that on your back, hoping that nobody comes at you.' Knebworth had 'proper' security vans taking the cash from the event HQ, but Mullally recalls the earlier days when himself and his co-worker would have to bank the money. 'You can imagine with all the stuff that was going on at the time, and two Irish guys coming into the bank with 20 grand in cash, sometimes even in deutsche marks if we were after a European tour. They'd be looking at you strangely, and you know that they're just about to push a button. But they might make a few phonecalls or whatever and we'd eventually get it done.' Knebworth is widely regarded as the high point for the band, but McCarthy also has particularly warm memories of the gig they played in his hometown just a few days later. 'I couldn't believe they were actually playing in Cork at that stage,' he says. He drove the truck from the UK via the Holyhead ferry, but as he arrived at Páirc Uí Chaoimh ahead of schedule, they wouldn't let him into the arena. Wary of leaving a truck full of merchandise parked around the city, McCarthy drove it to the seaside village of Crosshaven. 'When I got there I decided I'd leave it at the carpark at Graball Bay. I didn't even know if it'd fit up the hill but I just about managed it,' he recalls. When he went back later that evening to check everything was ok, there was a big crowd of children gathered around the emblazoned truck. 'There was a big mystery in Cork about where the Gallaghers were staying, and the word had gone around that this was their truck. One of the kids asked me 'Are Liam and Noel coming out to play?' I had to shoo them away.' Oasis merchandise has become an even bigger business since the 1990s. Picture: Lucy North/PA Those two Cork gigs were among the final dealings McCarthy had with Oasis. He has since moved to Sweden, where he teaches English, but regularly returns to the merchandising world for tours with various other bands. He's happy the Gallagher brothers are back together, and realises he was part of something special in the 1990s. 'It's hard to explain people the energy in the UK that the Britpop thing had. Musically, I didn't think it was the greatest, but the energy was phenomenal,' says McCarthy. ' I think at the time, the Indie scene was very middle class. But then along came Oasis. We probably didn't realise we were living in a golden era, but we had the time of our lives.'
Irish Examiner
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Irish Examiner
15 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Cork's Laura Hayes: 'It's a much better winter when you're after winning the All-Ireland'
Laura Hayes could never have imagined the catalogue of success 2024 would bring. Whatever about Cork retaining their All-Ireland title, or even picking up a second All-Star, being named Player of the Year was nowhere on her radar. To such an extent that when the nominations came out, the St Catherine's star realised her travel itinerary would preclude her from attending the awards ceremony. 'I had flights booked to Thailand and Vietnam,' says Hayes. 'I was going in November, and then the nominations came out. 'I had a decision to make. My grandparents were going to go, and I thought that it would be a special thing. It was one of those things that could work out or not, so I actually booked a flight home for it. 'I came home for a weekend from Thailand and went back out again on the Monday. It was a complete risk, but it was well worth it, and the night itself was lovely to spend it with everyone.' Cork's Laura Hayes at the camogie All Star awards. Pic: ©INPHO/Morgan Treacy. Rectifying a loss is often the most potent motivation, and Cork made use of those consecutive All-Ireland defeats in 2021 and '22. Now, with the Rebels chasing a hat-trick of O'Duffy Cups, Hayes mines powerful inspiration from the victories too. 'The year was really special and we always say it's a much better winter when you're after winning the All-Ireland. 'Everything that came after it was just lovely with family and friends. But there comes a point where you're ready to look forward. 'It made me more excited to go back and hungry for more. The winning feeling is something you can't replace. If you could bottle it, you'd be a millionaire.' This Cork group make a conscious effort to hone in on those motives. They conduct an exercise where players speak about their 'whys' with the panel. The fear of losing doesn't leave you, but that winning feeling will always be mentioned. Hayes has noted an evolution in how inter-county camogie players are seen over her eight years in the squad. The growth in interest among young girls and boys is clear. Speaking at a supporter meet-and-greet event, Hayes and her teammates are thoroughly engaged and well aware of their potential impact on the next generation. If the group were to sit in a circle and reflect on their 'hows' – the pathways which led them to the top – the inspiration given by local role models would feature highly. For Hayes, it was seven-time All-Ireland-winning clubmate Orla Cotter. 'It's embarrassing now because I play with her, and I played with her for one year with Cork as well, but when I was growing up, I wouldn't be able to say 'boo' to her. And I wouldn't be shy. 'But it was just great. You'd have seen her around the club, you'd have seen her training, and when it's that close to you, you just think it's so reachable. I'd definitely be conscious of that now for younger people as well. Laura Hayes, centre, celebrates with the O'Duffy Cup. Pic: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile. 'I took up her free-taking style there a few years ago. I had to take the frees with our club, and then she came home. I was very embarrassed because I was still using her style. 'With those things, I was down in a camp in Charleville, and the boys' group were taking penalties. You could see them emulating Darragh McCarthy's penalty style. I was just like, 'Jesus, they really do watch everything and take everything in, boys and girls.' 'It's the same here. They'd be looking at Amy O'Connor's free-taking style. That shows what impact it's having.' Her first All-Ireland in 2018, after coming onto the panel as a minor, was a 'blur'. These days, Hayes knows what to expect as they face into an All-Ireland final rematch with fierce rivals Galway. Not that she'll get too much time off ahead of that decider. Hayes runs a coffee trailer at home in Conna, which celebrated one year open last week. 'These few weeks are manic. Everyone's coming out and wanting to know what's going on and congratulating and wishing me luck. 'That's probably the best thing about being part of a small community around these weeks. You really feel the strength of that and that everyone's behind you, which is really nice.' It's a bumper month for turnover, so? 'It's a high-revenue month,' she laughs. 'And then I have a week after to spend it all! 'It's a lot of hard work – probably more than I bargained for – but, oh my God, it completely pays off in the people you meet.'
