Latest news with #ColmDalton
7NEWS
13-05-2025
- 7NEWS
Ireland
The man on a mission to visit every Irish pub in the world Colm Dalton has so far visited 97 pubs in 47 countries.
Irish Times
10-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Malachy Clerkin: Tailteann Cup has retained goodwill, but it might also be confirming need for a third-tier competition
Time now to check in on the Tailteann Cup – the football championship's second tier competition and occasional irritant of the one-eyed hurling pundit. We join it at the start of its fourth season and so far it looks like everyone is still aboard. This is not as small a victory as it might appear. Go back to the founding of the competition and the big fear early on was that John Horan's brainchild might be strangled at birth. The old Tommy Murphy Cup had gone up in smoke through a combination of disinterest and derision and the GAA was adamant that the Tailteann Cup had to avoid that fate. Nothing would kill it quicker than the participating counties only half-playing in it. Four years in and they appear to have got out the gap on that, at least. Run your finger through the squad lists for this weekend and there's no indication that managers have had to go knocking on doors to make up the numbers. The Tommy Murphy days of harassed officials going around clubs trying to dragoon impressionable young lads into playing are long in the past. Colm Dalton in action for Kildare during the Leinster SFC semi-final defeat to Louth. Photograph: James Lawlor/Inpho Take Kildare , who for better or worse are the highest profile team involved this time around. They haven't shelled anybody since losing to Louth last month. It's the opposite, if anything – Jimmy Hyland is back from injury for his first championship start since 2022. By and large, that's been the way of it everywhere. READ MORE One reason for this is that the Tailteann Cup has assumed an identity that the Tommy Murphy Cup was never able to get for itself. It's not an afterthought. For the vast majority of the counties involved, it's a fixed and critical part of the annual calendar. Twenty counties have played in the Tailteann Cup over the past four seasons, 14 of them in each iteration. This is their championship. They've all had their day in it too. Other than New York, who join each year at the preliminary quarter-final stage, every county has posted at least one win in the competition. Waterford beat Longford last year, London hammered Offaly. Leitrim won two matches in the 2024 campaign and were unbeaten in regulation play in 2022, only going out to Sligo on penalties. The fourth Tailteann Cup winners will be crowned in July. Photograph: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile So if nothing else, the Tailteann Cup has established base camp. The concept of a tiered football championship was alien for the first century of the GAA, but it's here now and there's no prospect of it going anywhere. First job completed. The question is what next. The Tailteann Cup had so much goodwill around it at the start that plenty of people were willing to overlook its flaws. In the spirit of not making perfect the enemy of good, there was more cheerleading than nitpicking. That was fine when the competition was furiously beating its wings trying to get airborne. But it's in a different place now. [ Dean Rock: Jim McGuinness has Donegal motoring and it's hard to see Armagh stopping them in Ulster final Opens in new window ] [ Eoghan Frayne and Meath out to right some wrongs against Louth in Leinster final Opens in new window ] An obvious issue is the small pool of potential winners. If a championship is only as strong as the teams with a genuine chance of lifting the trophy, the Tailteann Cup has a distance to go yet. The three winners so far were Westmeath (finished third in Division 3 in 2022), Meath (finished sixth in Division 2 in 2023) and Down (finished first in Division 3 in 2024). Down celebrate after beating Laois in last year's Tailteann Cup final at Croke Park. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho Essentially, if you were to rank each team at the end of the respective leagues, the Tailteann Cup was won by the third best team in 2022 and the best team in both '23 and '24. And although two of the three runners-up started the season in Division 4, Cavan were essentially a Division 2 team that had endured a couple of careless leagues by the time 2022 came around. The top four seeds this time around are Offaly, Kildare, Westmeath and Fermanagh. On a good day, Sligo will be a danger to any one of that quartet, but it feels highly unlikely that the 2025 champions will come from outside those five. Is that sustainable for the other dozen counties? Drill down into the results and you'd have to wonder how much longer they'll want to throw themselves into it with a full heart. Maybe you take those teams and the top tier of the Tailteann and make that the second tier There have been 86 Tailteann Cup matches played so far. Of those, 59 have been between teams who started the season in different divisions. Of those, 14 have seen lower division counties beat higher division ones. Division 4 teams have won eight matches against Division 3 teams and four against counties who started in Division 2. The most common result in three seasons of the Tailteann Cup has been a victory for a Division 3 side over a Division 4 one – it's happened 27 times in 38 games. Are those numbers good? Are they worrying? The sample size is still probably a bit small to be definitive either way. But instinctively it feels like an argument for a third tier. Brian Byrne celebrates after scoring Laois's third goal in last year's Tailteann Cup semi-final victory against Antrim. Photograph: Tom Maher/Inpho This is especially true when you sit down and look at how the Sam Maguire is likely to play out. In a wide open race, there are still half a dozen teams who will neither go all the way nor cause much trouble for the counties who have designs on Sam. Maybe you take those teams and the top tier of the Tailteann and make that the second tier, leaving the remaining eight or so to play for a third-tier championship. It's not an original thought but the case for it is obvious enough in theory. And maybe that's where it should stay – it could well be that the counties involved are only too happy to take their chance every year in tier-two competition and have no desire to be further stratified. Maybe they want to just get on with a very young tournament that they're still only getting used to. Because what the Tailteann Cup needs most of all is an end to gobshites in the paper checking in and asking how the Tailteann Cup is getting on. It's not there yet (and well done for making it this far). But it's getting there.
CNN
26-04-2025
- CNN
Record-breakers, from the world's tallest bridge to the world's smallest park
In travel news this week: the world's smallest park, Spain's greatest food, plus North Americans who started new lives in Mexico and Germany. Taller, higher, larger, bigger: This week we bring you a roundup of new record-breaking projects and endeavors around the world. The world's tallest bridge will open in China's Guizhou province this June, a mountainous region that is already home to nearly half of the world's top 100 tallest bridges. The Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge stands 2,051 feet (625 meters) above river level, which is 947 feet taller than France's Millau Viaduct, the current bridge title holder. China says its new bridge will reduce travel time over the canyon from two hours to one minute. Singaporean watering hole LeVel33 was last month named the world's highest microbrewery inside a building. Beer-brewing equipment, including 12 tanks, two copper brewhouse kettles and a cooling machine, had to be brought up to the 33rd floor of Marina Bay Financial Centre Tower by crane, but for guests, the epic views over the Singapore skyline are worth it. A more unusual new Guinness World Record holder can be found in the Philippines: the largest building shaped like a chicken. It's also a hotel, which is fine if you like fully air-conditioned 114-foot-tall avian sculptures but don't care so much about windows. Disney's biggest ever cruise ship will set off on its maiden voyage later this year. Most Americans will have to take a long flight to experience the 6,000-passenger Disney Adventure, which will be the cruise line's first ship to homeport in Asia. From big to small, the world's tiniest park has been recognized by Guinness World Records. Found in the Japanese town of Nagaizumi, about 68 miles southwest of Tokyo, the park is just 2.6 square feet and comprises an itty bitty stool and a fun-size patch of greenery. Finally, a couple of epic missions: Saudi explorer Badr Al Shaibani trekked 600 kilometers (370 miles) solo across his home country's Empty Quarter, the largest area of continuous sand in the world. Watch here. If that sounds like thirsty work, Irishman Colm Dalton has just the ticket. He's set himself the task of visiting every Irish pub in the world and has made it to 47 countries so far. After losing her job, Canadian woman Brooke Gazer convinced her husband Rick to move to Mexico and open up a bed-and-breakfast together. 'Everybody else was terrified for us,' says Brooke, but here's what happened next. Two other Canadians didn't travel so far for their hospitality adventure. Sisters Kristen and Kathryn Groom, aged 27 and 35, bought a century-old inn in Ontario, despite having no industry experience. Three years on, business is thriving, thanks to the pair becoming an international social media hit. Some people are turning their homes into their fortunes by swapping their residences with strangers instead of using hotels or Airbnbs. Many see it as a solution to the overtourism problem driving up rents everywhere from New York to Barcelona. You can trick out your own vacation rental with the help of these tips from our partners at CNN Underscored, a product reviews and recommendations guide owned by CNN. From candles to white noise sound machines, it has everything you need to get fully stocked. In CNN's new original eight-part series 'Eva Longoria: Searching for Spain,' the award-winning actor, producer, director and activist goes on a gastronomic pilgrimage around her ancestral homeland. From pintxos in San Sebastián to blonde beef in Galicia to cider in Asturias, she samples the finest dishes Spain has to offer, and also catches up with family who still live in her namesake town of Longoria. Audiences also get a peek into her new Spanish home in Marbella as she hosts friends for a feast of local delicacies. The show premiers on Sunday, April 27, at 9 p.m. ET/PT on CNN. Here's the truth about 'chalet girls.' What it's like tending to the needs of Europe's wealthy skiers. A New Yorker ditched the United States for Germany. She says it was the 'best decision' she ever made. First class isn't dead. Meet the airlines keeping the long-haul luxury dream alive. 'Special forces travelers' are mobilizing in China. They can make or break a tourist destination.
CNN
15-03-2025
- CNN
The man on a mission to visit every Irish pub in the world
People around the world this weekend will be seeking out their local Irish pubs to join in the revelry associated with Ireland's national holiday, Saint Patrick's Day, on March 17. For one Irishman, however, a visit to his country's outposts abroad isn't an annual treat, but a way of life. Colm Dalton, from County Kerry, is on a mission to visit every Irish pub in the world and has so far made it to 97 pubs in 47 countries. He documents his travels on his Publican Enemy blog and it's taken him everywhere from Jakarta to Krakow to the Azores. CNN Travel joined him in The Woodbine pub in Finsbury Park, a North London neighborhood with a strong Irish history, to find out what he's learned — and why he's doing it. 'I did one trip, and I just loved it,' says Dalton of his first adventure seven years ago in Bilbao, Spain, 'a beautiful, beautiful city.' In the tiny Wicklow Arms pub, he made new friends galore — including a man who knew Dalton's father as his postman back in Kerry — and stayed the whole night for a lock-in. (That's when the doors close and a select few stay on for a private party). From that point on, Dalton's fate was sealed. 'I just said, 'This is great. I'll continue it, and I'll just try to go a different place every time,'' he explains. 'I love to see how someone has interpreted the Irish pub, and (if it's) a faithful interpretation.' The London-based university lecturer had an upbringing that prepared him well for life as an international pub connoisseur. He grew up in Fenit, a tiny village with 'one shop and five pubs' on the north side of Tralee Bay, looking out over the Atlantic. His parents are musicians and have long played traditional music in the rural pubs for which Kerry is famous. It's a 'beautiful part of Ireland' and the pubs are 'by default, lovely,' he says. 'But I think, as well, when you live in Kerry, you live by the sea, so there is an element of wanting to travel and go out a little bit, because you're facing across to America.' In countries where waves of Irish emigrants settled in the 19th and 20th centuries, such as Britain, North America and Australia, there are many pubs with authentic Irish history. The Irish are also a people who've turned up in most corners on Earth, and many of them have opened pubs, so a true slice of Limerick can unexpectedly be found in Lima or a piece of Dublin in Dubai. Ersatz Irish-themed pubs are everywhere too, however, having boomed as a marketable commodity in the 1990s and proliferated ever since. The Loch Ness pub on the French island of Corsica is one of the most egregious examples he's visited, says Dalton, what with Loch Ness being in Scotland, an entirely different country. If the pub is named after an Irish surname, that's a good sign, says Dalton, as it suggests it was named after an owner or family. The Irish do pubs 'amazingly well,' says Dalton, when pondering just how Irish pubs became so popular internationally. 'We have the hospitality, the atmosphere, the being generally very nice and friendly.' He highlights also that the best pubs are fiercely independent and as unique as someone's home. 'It's their house and you're a guest there,' he says. 'You've got to be able to control a pub.' It's about people management, rather than customer service. In terms of atmosphere, 'music is integral,' says Dalton, and it's far more important than the emphasis that is often put on alcohol. 'I see the pub as a nice space, so it doesn't instantly go with me to excessive drinking. It's more the space and the people.' Dalton now often goes on his trips abroad with his partner, but at the beginning he went on his own and 'you just end up talking to people.' This cultural exchange has been key to the experience, with different crowds being drawn to the pubs in different countries. In European countries such as Italy, France and Germany, 'the Irish pub is seen as the alternative pub,' he says, where students and backpackers can 'live out their James Joyce, the Pogues dream.' In southern Spain, where many British expats choose to spend their later years, it's 'retired people just enjoying a nice pint in the sun.' Further afield, as he found in Kazakhstan and Indonesia, Irish pubs are 'a little bit high status' and a popular choice with business people, due to the expensive imported beers and Western appeal. 'To be an up-and-coming modern city, you have to have an Irish pub,' he says. 'It's very international, it's very touristy, where, like, all the expats go.' In Malmö, Sweden, he visited a pub that was 'really wild … they were dancing on the table, literally,' which went against his perception of calm, well-behaved Scandinavians. He spoke to one reveler and she explained, 'We love the Irish pub because it gives us an excuse to go mad.' In countries with a reputation for being reserved and rational, such as Germany or Japan, Dalton finds that the romantic illusion of the Irish as being 'rebels' who 'don't care about things like taxes and, like, laws' is 'very attractive for them.' Then there are places where there is a shared musical connection, such as in the States, where country music has links to Ireland's folk traditions. 'Things about the countryside, farmers, rural banjos, you know, fiddles, that's our culture as well,' he says. 'I think American bars are very good. I was in one in Marfa, Texas, called the Lost Horse Saloon and live music was the key,' he says. As for Austin, Texas, with its famously eclectic music scene, its bars reminded him most powerfully of Galway city, in Ireland's very own wild west. In Brazil, he says he visited an 'authentic' bar in São Paulo called O'Malley's, where the local Brazilian music session, with 'people sitting in a circle with, like, drums and a little guitar and stuff like that' was very similar to the Irish style. Dalton has recently visited Estonia and Iceland and the far-flung Faroe Islands, in the North Atlantic, are top of his wishlist. He also wants to visit O'Kelly's Bar in Guantanamo Bay, although he admits that might be a tricky one for him to gain access to. In Africa, he's been eyeing up Bubbles O'Learys in Kampala, Uganda. The southernmost Irish pub in the world is The Dublin, in Tierra del Fuego, at the tip of Patagonia and close to Antarctica. As for the highest Irish pubs in the world, there are two contenders for that crown: Paddy's Irish Pub in Cusco, Peru, and Namche Bazaar in the foothills of the Himalayas. 'I'd be happy with either one,' he says. Given that the Irish Pubs Global Federation estimates that there are at least 6,500 Irish pubs worldwide, Dalton concedes that he might not achieve his goal of visiting every single one. 'I have to agree that I probably won't,' he admits with a grin, 'but I do think that I would have a very good time attempting it.'
CNN
15-03-2025
- CNN
The man on a mission to visit every Irish pub in the world
People around the world this weekend will be seeking out their local Irish pubs to join in the revelry associated with Ireland's national holiday, Saint Patrick's Day, on March 17. For one Irishman, however, a visit to his country's outposts abroad isn't an annual treat, but a way of life. Colm Dalton, from County Kerry, is on a mission to visit every Irish pub in the world and has so far made it to 97 pubs in 47 countries. He documents his travels on his Publican Enemy blog and it's taken him everywhere from Jakarta to Krakow to the Azores. CNN Travel joined him in The Woodbine pub in Finsbury Park, a North London neighborhood with a strong Irish history, to find out what he's learned — and why he's doing it. 'I did one trip, and I just loved it,' says Dalton of his first adventure seven years ago in Bilbao, Spain, 'a beautiful, beautiful city.' In the tiny Wicklow Arms pub, he made new friends galore — including a man who knew Dalton's father as his postman back in Kerry — and stayed the whole night for a lock-in. (That's when the doors close and a select few stay on for a private party). From that point on, Dalton's fate was sealed. 'I just said, 'This is great. I'll continue it, and I'll just try to go a different place every time,'' he explains. 'I love to see how someone has interpreted the Irish pub, and (if it's) a faithful interpretation.' The London-based university lecturer had an upbringing that prepared him well for life as an international pub connoisseur. He grew up in Fenit, a tiny village with 'one shop and five pubs' on the north side of Tralee Bay, looking out over the Atlantic. His parents are musicians and have long played traditional music in the rural pubs for which Kerry is famous. It's a 'beautiful part of Ireland' and the pubs are 'by default, lovely,' he says. 'But I think, as well, when you live in Kerry, you live by the sea, so there is an element of wanting to travel and go out a little bit, because you're facing across to America.' In countries where waves of Irish emigrants settled in the 19th and 20th centuries, such as Britain, North America and Australia, there are many pubs with authentic Irish history. The Irish are also a people who've turned up in most corners on Earth, and many of them have opened pubs, so a true slice of Limerick can unexpectedly be found in Lima or a piece of Dublin in Dubai. Ersatz Irish-themed pubs are everywhere too, however, having boomed as a marketable commodity in the 1990s and proliferated ever since. The Loch Ness pub on the French island of Corsica is one of the most egregious examples he's visited, says Dalton, what with Loch Ness being in Scotland, an entirely different country. If the pub is named after an Irish surname, that's a good sign, says Dalton, as it suggests it was named after an owner or family. The Irish do pubs 'amazingly well,' says Dalton, when pondering just how Irish pubs became so popular internationally. 'We have the hospitality, the atmosphere, the being generally very nice and friendly.' He highlights also that the best pubs are fiercely independent and as unique as someone's home. 'It's their house and you're a guest there,' he says. 'You've got to be able to control a pub.' It's about people management, rather than customer service. In terms of atmosphere, 'music is integral,' says Dalton, and it's far more important than the emphasis that is often put on alcohol. 'I see the pub as a nice space, so it doesn't instantly go with me to excessive drinking. It's more the space and the people.' Dalton now often goes on his trips abroad with his partner, but at the beginning he went on his own and 'you just end up talking to people.' This cultural exchange has been key to the experience, with different crowds being drawn to the pubs in different countries. In European countries such as Italy, France and Germany, 'the Irish pub is seen as the alternative pub,' he says, where students and backpackers can 'live out their James Joyce, the Pogues dream.' In southern Spain, where many British expats choose to spend their later years, it's 'retired people just enjoying a nice pint in the sun.' Further afield, as he found in Kazakhstan and Indonesia, Irish pubs are 'a little bit high status' and a popular choice with business people, due to the expensive imported beers and Western appeal. 'To be an up-and-coming modern city, you have to have an Irish pub,' he says. 'It's very international, it's very touristy, where, like, all the expats go.' In Malmö, Sweden, he visited a pub that was 'really wild … they were dancing on the table, literally,' which went against his perception of calm, well-behaved Scandinavians. He spoke to one reveler and she explained, 'We love the Irish pub because it gives us an excuse to go mad.' In countries with a reputation for being reserved and rational, such as Germany or Japan, Dalton finds that the romantic illusion of the Irish as being 'rebels' who 'don't care about things like taxes and, like, laws' is 'very attractive for them.' Then there are places where there is a shared musical connection, such as in the States, where country music has links to Ireland's folk traditions. 'Things about the countryside, farmers, rural banjos, you know, fiddles, that's our culture as well,' he says. 'I think American bars are very good. I was in one in Marfa, Texas, called the Lost Horse Saloon and live music was the key,' he says. As for Austin, Texas, with its famously eclectic music scene, its bars reminded him most powerfully of Galway city, in Ireland's very own wild west. In Brazil, he says he visited an 'authentic' bar in São Paulo called O'Malley's, where the local Brazilian music session, with 'people sitting in a circle with, like, drums and a little guitar and stuff like that' was very similar to the Irish style. Dalton has recently visited Estonia and Iceland and the far-flung Faroe Islands, in the North Atlantic, are top of his wishlist. He also wants to visit O'Kelly's Bar in Guantanamo Bay, although he admits that might be a tricky one for him to gain access to. In Africa, he's been eyeing up Bubbles O'Learys in Kampala, Uganda. The southernmost Irish pub in the world is The Dublin, in Tierra del Fuego, at the tip of Patagonia and close to Antarctica. As for the highest Irish pubs in the world, there are two contenders for that crown: Paddy's Irish Pub in Cusco, Peru, and Namche Bazaar in the foothills of the Himalayas. 'I'd be happy with either one,' he says. Given that the Irish Pubs Global Federation estimates that there are at least 6,500 Irish pubs worldwide, Dalton concedes that he might not achieve his goal of visiting every single one. 'I have to agree that I probably won't,' he admits with a grin, 'but I do think that I would have a very good time attempting it.'
