Ladies' Day at the Galway Races: ‘Get off Tinder – you have to come to the Galway Races'
Galway Races
three years ago.
'We just love the buzz of it,' says Devenny.
'Every year since we have made a tradition to keep coming to mark our anniversary.'
'Get off Tinder,' he advises others looking for love. 'You have to come to the Galway Races.'
READ MORE
Craig Devenny and Ruby O'Reilly Duff, who met at the Galway Races three years ago. Photograph: Niamh Browne/The Irish Times
O'Reilly Duff made her own outfit, having bought a sewing machine two weeks ago.
'I have grown up with horses all my life so I wanted to add some of the rosettes myself. I got the material from charity shops. I wanted to recycle materials instead of going out to buy something new.'
Milliner Gillian Duggan at the Galway Races Summer Festival in Ballybrit. Photograph: Andrew Downes/Xposure
Gillian Duggan, a headpiece designer living in Galway, also sports a home-made outfit for Ladies' Day on Thursday.
'I actually designed this headpiece for the 150th anniversary of the Galway races [in 2019]. They kindly let me use their logo.'
Having originally designed the piece for a friend, the Mayo woman 'decided to get a go out of it myself'.
Some attendees make their own outfits, others commission pieces for the Met Gala of Galway fashion.
Eva Hayes Morrissey from Co Limerick at Ladies' Day of the Galway Races Summer Festival. Photograph: Andrew Downes/Xposure
Eva Hayes Morrissey from Limerick, who has been attending for more than 25 years, opted for a custom couture design from Geraldine O'Meara.
'I designed it and Geraldine made it for me. It's in a Victorian style. Caithriona King made the headpiece to match using the same olive fabric.'
The occasion merits the handmade outfit, she says, as the atmosphere in Ballybrit is 'just electric'.
What Hayes Morrissey enjoys most is 'the craic, the nights out after, the getting ready, and the hangovers. Everything. We wouldn't miss it.'
Áine Malone from Edenderry at Ballybrit. Photograph: Morgan Treacy/Inpho
Áine Malone, wearing an Ella May dress and a Michelle Kearns headpiece, says she has 'as much chance as winning the lotto' as the €10,000 cash prize for Best Dressed on Thursday, but she would throw her hat in the ring anyway.
Breda Butler from Tipperary, winner of the Best Hat competition at Ladies' Day. Photograph: Andrew Downes/Xposure
Best Hat winner Breda Butler from Co Tipperary, wearing a headpiece by Michelle Kearns, is delighted to be taking home another trophy for her home county, after their All-Ireland Hurling win. The county is 'on a double', she says.
Travelling from Thurles is 'an annual event' and 'the style is phenomenal', adds Butler.
Megan Cunniss from Galway, winner of the Best Dressed title on Ladies Day at the Galway Races. Photograph: Andrew Downes/Xposure
Megan Cunniss bagged the coveted Best Dressed title, wearing a hat from Newry brand Millinery by Mairéad.
She styled the headpiece at the last minute with a black bow made from a bedsheet, along with a clutch hired from Mála Hire, lacy black gloves and black-and-white heels from Zara.
Cunniss won the favour of the judges – stylist Mandy Maher, entrepreneur Lisa McGowan and Niamh Ryan of Ella & Jo cosmetics – with her monochrome ensemble.
[
Hopes high that Galway will continue trend in increased attendances for week-long festival
Opens in new window
]
The Galway native is on a winning streak, having also won Dundalk Races Ladies' Day a few weeks ago.
'I actually thought that would go against me,' she says.
Attending her first Ladies' Day in her home county, she says: 'Galway women are so stylish. They love putting outfits together, so it's hard to compete in Galway.'
When it comes to the €10,000 cash prize, she has no plans. 'God, I haven't thought that far ahead.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Times
44 minutes ago
- Irish Times
North Circular review: ‘You'd have robbed cars flying around... It used to be chaos, but good fun'
There's a beautifully hallucinatory quality to Luke McManus's North Circular ( RTÉ One , 9.35pm), a dreamy black-and-white valentine to Dublin's North Circular Road that comes to the small screen three years after it was received with acclaim on the film festival circuit. It's a documentary with a thesis: that Dublin's grittier postcodes have a down-at-heel glamour particular to themselves which should be cherished at a time when much of the capital's urban landscape is passing into history. Whether or not you agree that the city should be preserved in perpetuity, like a specimen in a bell-jar, there is no denying the poetic punch of this travelogue. It takes a Joycean hike from the Phoenix Park , past the site of the old O'Devaney Gardens public housing scheme. Next it is on to Dalymount Park soccer stadium, Mountjoy Prison , Croke Park and down to the docklands via Sheriff Street (not on the North Circular strictly speaking but very much part of the same spiritual hinterland). McManus was inspired to make the film after strolling around these neighbourhoods during lockdown. Reflecting its perambulatory roots, the documentary has the pottering charm of an intense hike on an overcast day. He begins with the 1861 Wellington Monument in the Phoenix Park. There is an acknowledgment of Dublin's complicated relationship with Britishness. The British army, an unnamed narrator explained, was handsomely provisioned with volunteers from inner Dublin, driven to fight for British Empire by poverty and desperation. READ MORE Rambling up into the north side, we hear an ex-resident of O'Devaney Gardens lament the loss of community and the construction of new apartments. 'You'd have the robbed cars flying around,' she says. 'It used to be chaos sometimes, but good fun.' Then we arrive at Dalymount Park where Bohemian FC fans chant about their bitter rivals, Shamrock Rovers . Amid the grungy greys, there are flashes of darkness. Sitting in shadows in his livingroom, tin whistle-player Seán Ó Tuama recalls witnessing his brother strangle his father. Elsewhere, a former inmate at Mountjoy talks about how he would walk out the front gates and seek the nearest drug dealer, before belatedly cleaning up. North Circular finishes with singer Gemma Dunleavy , who talks about how people from Sheriff Street are looked down upon and regarded as 'spongers'. Her rejoinder is that 'there are spongers in suits. Look at the banks, it's a different type of sponger. They're sponging off the public'. It's gorgeously filmed with a stunning soundtrack, much of it courtesy of the new wave of Irish folk artists centred on The Cobblestone in Smithfield. They include singer John Francis Flynn , who insists that living in gentrified Stoneybatter doesn't make him 'posh'. [ Luke McManus: 'The North Circular Road tells the story of Ireland' Opens in new window ] As Dublin continues to change – as all cities must if they are to thrive – McManus' film functions as an act of bearing witness to a particular moment in its history when the old capital was giving way to something new and different (a sprinkling of tall buildings, a proposed redevelopment of Sheriff Street). It has the grainy quality of a Polaroid in the drizzle – a snapshot of a period that, for better or worse, is slipping away before our eyes but which McManus has ensured will now be preserved. By the credits, I felt I'd paced the length of the North Circular – and returned home weary but wiser, and with a better appreciation of the old bones that glimmer beneath the new Dublin.
Irish Times
5 hours ago
- Irish Times
Electric Picnic 2025: Inhaler, Jazzy and David Gray among 11 more acts added to line-up
Inhaler , Jazzy and Noel and Mike Hogan are among the 11 new acts joining the line-up for this year's Electric Picnic festival. Irish alternative rock band Inhaler, whose frontman is Elijah Hewson , will return to the Electric Picnic stage after performing there in 2023. English singer-songwriter David Gray will play in the legend's slot on Sunday night. Gray is best known for his hit songs Babylon and This Year's Love. Noel and Mike Hogan of The Cranberries are reuniting for the first time since Dolores O'Riordan 's death in 2018 to perform some of the band's most popular songs. They will be joined by the RTÉ Concert Orchestra and a special mystery guest. READ MORE American disco band Nile Rodgers & Chic are returning, having made regular appearances at the festival since 2009. Irish rock band The Saw Doctors will continue their 40th year anniversary tour with a set at the music festival– the band was formed in 1986 in Tuam, Co Galway . Dublin-based dance-pop singer-songwriter Jazzy will return for her third year. Last year she overtook Enya and Sinéad O'Connor to become the most popular Irish female artist on Spotify . King Kong Company, the dance band formed while its members were still students at the Waterford Institute of Technology, are also set to return to the festival. Dublin band The Coronas join the line-up too after playing inGlastonbury last month. Electric Picnic 2024: The Wolfe Tones play the Main Stage, in front of a huge crowd, on Sunday afternoon. Photograph: Electric Picnic Tipperary duo The 2 Johnnies will perform and fellow Munster podcasters PJ Kirby and Kevin Twomey , who make up the podcast I'm Grand Mam, will record a live episode in the Electric Arena. Irish DJ Mark McCabehas said his set will include a mixture of dance classics and new songs, with a special surprise performance. These acts join headliners Chappell Roan , Hozier , Sam Fender , Fatboy Slim , Kings of Leon and Becky Hill. The festival will also see performances from Conan Gray, Kneecap, Suki Waterhouse, The Kooks and Confidence Man. Electric Picnic returns to its usual end-of-summer slot this year, from August 29th-31st. Last year was the largest in the festival's history as capacity grew from 70,000 in 2023 to 75,000 in 2024. [ Inside Ireland's music festival industry: 'You can haemorrhage money very quickly' Opens in new window ] Organisers said 80,000 people will attend the 600-acre Stradbally Estate in Co Laois for the festival this summer.
Extra.ie
9 hours ago
- Extra.ie
Fleadh hitchhikers score a lift with GAA legend
Two Fleadh-bound pals got more than just a lift when they stuck out their thumbs on a busy roadside – they hitched a ride with none other than seven-time All-Ireland winner and GAA legend, Eoghan O'Gara. Brandon Cassidy and a friend were stranded in Curracloe as taxi demand skyrocketed during Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann 2025. Left with no other option, they decided to hitch a lift into Wexford Town. 'No taxis to be got in Wexford, thumbing a lift from Curracloe to Wexford town for the fleadh. No taxis to be got in Wexford, thumbing a lift from curracloe to Wexford town for the fleadh. Chanced our arm with this man not knowing who he was, 10 minutes into the car journey he says his name. Didn't know were after jumping into the car with 7 time all Ireland winner. Gent!! — Brandon Cassidy (@Cass05Brandon) August 4, 2025 'Chanced our arm with this man, not knowing who he was, 10 minutes into the car journey, he says his name. 'Didn't know were after jumping into the car with 7 time All Ireland winner. Gent!!' Brandon wrote on social media. Their unsuspecting chauffeur turned out to be Eoghan O'Gara, a key member of the dominant Dublin squad of the 2010s. Eoghan O'Gara. Pic: Eóin Noonan/Sportsfile O'Gara won All-Ireland titles in 2011, 2013, 2015–2017, 2018, and 2019, famously coming off the bench in the breakthrough 2011 win and starting in the nail-biting 2017 final against Mayo. Having swapped the blue of Dublin for the black and amber of Wexford, O'Gara now lines out for Shelmaliers – helping the club to county glory in 2023. He lives locally with his family. Meanwhile, Fleadh Cheoil 2025 is lighting up Wexford this week with music, crowds, and even a surprise performance by Ed Sheeran, who dropped by for a few impromptu sets – a nod to his strong Wexford roots.
