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They were tired, thirsty, all of them soldiers happy to be headed home to New Hampshire. The troop carrier out of Iraq stopped briefly in Shannon to refuel, and Ireland being what Ireland is, even in the wee hours the airport bar was open — and this curious game of hurling was playing on the TV.

"We had no idea what we were looking at,'' recalled Eddie Clements, one of the National Guard soldiers whose life in that moment some nine years ago veered sharply to a whole new world of sports. "It was kind of like, 'Hey, hurling, OK, what's that? That looks pretty cool.'


SEE THE VIDEO BELOW:
Irish sport of hurling - Two Fields One Team - St...: http://youtu.be/Igfp7Z6-Y4M

I did find this funny.

CF: Yeah, I've always felt my family is British; I'm British, even though I have never lived there.

See more at: http://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/cycling/paul-kimmage-chris-froome-in-the-eye-of-the-storm-part-1-30391816.html#sthash.3AWqdHRh.dpuf

If you have Prize Bonds, don't forget to update your address so they can contact you win a prize.

This week's Prize Bond Star prize of €20,000 goes to lucky Prize Bond number BF 449329 held in County Tipperary. The lucky bond was purchased in 1995.

See more at: http://www.nenaghguardian.ie/news/roundup/articles/2014/09/28/4032780-tipp-winner-scoops-20000-with-prize-bonds/#sthash.zztsAq8b.dpuf

Why would anyone assume that people stop playing Gaelic football when they leave Ireland?

If you listen to the audio, you will find that is not what it is about. GAA clubs abroad are discussed, it is about the effect emigration is having on local clubs in Ireland, especially small rural clubs.

Like talking to a brick wall!

No wonder many think we Irish are as mad as cut snakes!

"That was democracy at work and it worked well. However, the terms 'democracy' and 'Ireland' don't sit well in the same sentence. In the latter part of the 19th century and the early decades of the 20th, the democratic wishes of the greater number of people on this island were denied, when the demand for Home Rule was refused."


And this justifies bombing people in the '70s & '80s ?

If peaceful campaigning was followed, the UK would be forced to deal with the legitimate grievances of the Catholic community: by international public opinion.

I thought the story was interesting. It is always funny to see how people react to hurling. If it upsets you,just ignore it

Hurling might be the coolest sport you've never heard of. Played with a ball one must balance on a kind of lacrosse stick without the net pouch, while sprinting up and down what looks like an oversized soccer field, players must dodge other players who, also wielding bats, try to smack the ball away from you before you can turn your stick into a bat and whack the ball into a big hockey net or between football goal posts. Catch all that?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/early-lead/wp/2014/09/26/hurling-could-be-the-coolest-sport-you-dont-know/

As more young people leave Ireland, Gaelic Football is losing its lifeblood. John Murphy reports on the struggle to keep alive the game that is at the heart of Irish identity.

Listen Below:
https://audioboom.com/boos/2414839-cc-goodbye-ireland-goodbye-gaelic-football-21-august-2014

Look at Scotland, 45% voted for independence and no violence. There is a lesson in that for Gerry and his "hard men".

Foreign Students Trash SF Rental House Then Leave Country
San Francisco landlord Ritu Vohra thought she would give exchange students from Ireland a break on rent for staying in her home. But a break doesn't begin to describe what she discovered when they moved out. Christin Ayers reports. (9/19/14)

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/video/10606223-foreign-students-trash-sf-rental-house-then-leave-country/

Maybe we could write to Ritu Vohra to express our embarrassment. I don't have her address, but I am sure the Irish consulate in San Francisco could pass on letters.

What do you think of that suggestion?
Barry

The Irish passport office and US State Department should advise future J-1 students that they will be held accountable for the condition of their accommodation after they leave.

Let them know, if they do the wrong thing, video footage could end up on Facebook and YouTube.

They could also be prevented from entering the US again, even for a holiday.

Perhaps some of the most surprising observations come from people such as Baron Prior, who as James Prior was Margaret Thatcher's Northern secretary during the course of the 1981 hunger strikes, and also from Lord Tebbit, who was injured in the 1984 IRA Brighton bombing and whose wife was paralysed in the attack.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/new-bbc-documentary-asks-who-won-the-war-in-north-1.1942143

They might deserve to face criminal charges, but I don't think anyone deserves to face internet vigilante justice.

I imagine if the damage is paid for, then nobody will be hunting them.

They should be held to account. This will have knock on effects, Americans will be reluctant to rent to Irish students in the future if they are concerned the house will be trashed.

The major issue is not money, it is the reputational damage to the Irish community and to Ireland.