All Ireland Final

After the coffee morning in work, met a mate in town waiting for my dad to arrive into Dublin. When Niamh and him arrived into town, we all went for dinner in Bobo's on Dame st, before bringing the pub crawl in Dandelion then around Temple Bar. We some how ended up in O'Shea's Merchant which seemed to holding a OAP singles night which was funny to watch. Before we knew it, we were getting taxi home bout 2 am.

                                         

 

 

Earlyish start next morning, we all hopped on to the bus into town, where we got a bite to eat before meeting the cousins in Quinn's in Drumcondra for few pints before the game. It was great to see everyone, some not seen in years. Before we knew it, was time to head to Croke Park. From the onset, my heart was in my sleeve with nerves and excitement. I was sitting with my cousin in Upper Davin Stand, I had a good view of the match. My Dad and Niamh were in the Upper Hogan, near the 65 m line, behind the press box.

As the game progressed, was amazing watching our players such as Shane O Donnell execute some outstanding plays. When the final whistle blew, I nearly cried with delight. Watching the players and the celebrations as they lifted up the Liam McCarthy cup, and did the lap of honour around the pitch, was such an amazing sight to be hold. And I wouldn't  exchange anything for witnessing  such an emotional event like that.

 
          

After the celebrations in the stadium, I meet my Dad and Niamh back at Quinn's before heading into town for dinner at Flanagan's on O'Connell st. We then headed to Clare supporters HQ at Dandelion. The atmosphere was unbelievable in there, was so packed but great fun.. It was a late but fun night. Niamh and my dad left about 3.30 am, had to wait over half an hour for a taxi, before getting home after 4.30 am.
Finally got in the door at 6 am myself. Lucky I managed to book a taxi for 8.30 am on my route home, or I would have slept in, only thanks for the taxi driver ringing me. Work that morning was my personal form of hell lol. That night I had a nice Chinese takeaway before watching the Clare Homecoming for the double all Ireland Champions U 21 and Senior teams, was great to see a turnout of excess of 30,000 people to welcome them home. Due to volumes of people watching the homecoming on the app and site from around the country and even the world, the video feed kept crashing, but lucky all the key moments were also covered by Clare FM radio, twitter and Facebook. The lads deserved it, well done again.

Road To Croker!

I managed to book a weekend off work from the Old Ground for the August 10th, which I decided to go to Cork for it. So myself and Niall, meet up for weekend, to catch up and go mad Cork style. After we checked in to our hotel, the Jury Inn on the Quays, caught up over food and drinks of course, which ended up been a late one, where we ended up meeting more mates of mine, in Ruby's which was nice.
I can tell you I had one sore head going back on the bus home. On the journey home, was on phone to +Niamh, who was in Central Bar in town, getting settled to watch the Dublin vs Cork All Ireland Semi Final, when after some badgering from our father and myself, she made the short journey to Croke park to see if she could get a ticket for the match. Luckily she got a ticket for the Upper Hogan Stand, and had a fantastic view of the match. She said the atmosphere was electric. The half time entertainment The Heathers weren't half bad either.

                                  

 

The following weekend, whilst I was unluckily working, my father and Niamh were able to get amazing tickets for the Clare vs Limerick Semi on the 18th. My father got the train up Saturday morning, who was met off the train at Heuston by Niamh. They decided to go meet his brothers, so off to the zoo, they went. Luckily enough, they had beautiful weather for it. After their zoological experience, it started to rain, so they got the Luas back into town,where they went and got dinner in the Old Mill in Temple bar, and were managed to get lunch time prices too. Before commencing a pub crawl including Merchant on Quays, Old Storehouse, the Quays Pub before going for a night cap at Niamh's local in Lucan, Penny Hill. The Rattlin Bog was been played in each pub, that they entered, the song seemed to follow them, like the drink.

                                  

 

After Breakfast in O'Sheas, they made their way up towards Croke Park, where they managed to get their hands on the Liam McCarthy Cup, even if it was just for a few moments after a small donation for charity.

 Their tickets for the match was in the Lower Cusack near the 65m line. It was a fantastic game to watch on the tv, and from what Niamh was telling me, about the atmosphere in the Croker, was unbelievable. She was telling me about the Zorbing which done place during half time. A Clare person won that race, maybe that in itself should have been an sign of things to come.  
                               

After the match, I rushed from home into work, and whose face popped up in the match highlights at the end of the analysis, but my father, I was in hysterics, and was onto the phone to him straight away as was half of Clare. Niamh told me after, that she saw him, however he missed it cos he was on phone.

RTE Player

The excitement and buzz around Ennis was electric, the next day after the match. It was great too see the whole county get behind both the senior and U21 teams. My final shift in the Old Ground was Tuesday night 20th. I managed to arrange a few viewings for the following Saturday in various areas in South Dublin.

On Saturday morning, Niamh, our father and myself, all left about 7 am for our journey up to Dublin. After fitting in so many viewings in a short space of time, left Dublin, with a few hopeful possibilities. On route home, as we were on schedule, decided to go to the U21 Semi final in Semple Stadium in Thurles, to see Clare vs Galway after a slight mishap with motorway and tolls. As part of the pre-day deal with Niamh, I bought her ticket Into the game, must keep the sister happy. It was great to see a decent crowd to cheer the lads on to win place in All Ireland final. After watching the replay of the game, who did Niamh see but our dad on tv yet again. 

On Sunday just before lunch time, got a call about a place I viewed, I got the place in Rathfarnham area, luckily enough got a lift up to Dublin that evening from a neighbour. I spent the first few nights back in Dublin with a mate in town, which was great, as it gave us a chance to catch up. Started back to work on Monday morning at 9 am, so no rest for the wicked.  After a few quiet days of settling back into life in Dublin, I moved into my new place on Wednesday, it was great to not be living out a suitcase for the first time properly in well over a year. First day properly cycling to and from work, what goes and happens, but my back axis goes in my bike. Niamh and me finally got to meet and catch up that Saturday 31st in town for dinner and drinks, Wagamama followed by Hard Rock.

During the week, besides both Niamh and me working, I won a voucher on facebook for Mace, Niamh won a book called Echoland by Joe Joyce and funny enough I won my mate Alan Early's book Arthur Quinn and Hell's Keeper, which I was actually reading at the time. End of the week, I met Niamh after work for dinner in Dandelion, which had been decked out in Clare colours in support of the team for the All Ireland Final. Then we went for cocktails before meeting Chris and Ed in Temple Bar.     

                                                                          

                                      

After few bars and shots laters, it was time to call it a night. The following morning, we got a call from the folks, telling us that they jumped on the train from Maynooth to Dublin. So after a mad rush getting ready, we dashed for the bus and made our way to Quinns in Drumcondra. When we got there, we meet some cousins, uncles and aunt. After a while, we made the short walk to Croke Park, where Niamh and Dad went to Davin Stand and Mum and myself were in Cusack Stand.
                     

                                            
  The atmosphere and tension throughout the match between Clare and Cork, was like nothing I've ever experienced before, towards the end, I was sure I was close to a heart attack. It was an outstanding final and am already counting down the days to the Replay on the 28th  

During my break on Monday evening, I was surprised to get an email, informing me that I won a signed Davy Fitzgerald Clare jersey, which was pretty awesome.

As I was unable to go myself to the U21 Final in Thurles, I watched it with a mate in the Living Room in town, whilst Niamh and co went to the match. What I saw looked like a brilliant final and Niamh informed me, that the buzz and excitement at the final whistle was rememberable of 95, and that's exactly what it looked like to me. It great that the lads have managed to win back to back titles, such amazing achievement, first time ever that any county at U21 level have achieved this.

                           

   
                                                                     COME THE BANNER !
   

Home Sweet Home

After the emotional reunion at the arrival gate at the airport, we made our way back to the hotel that our parents had spent the night, Clarion Hotel.

They checked out and then made the 2 and half hour journey home back to Ruan. We had some breakfast before some relaxation in the sun and Liam's mid afternoon nap, we had a proper home cooked dinner before heading out to Lisroe to see our granny that evening. We got to see some of our relatives back at the Bogdale that night which was nice.

For my 25th birthday I meet with Clo, Aoife and Emma in Ennis for lunch, which was great, to catch up on all the gossip and scandal. Later that evening we had a family dinner at home, which was as tasty as always.
Through some rest and relaxation, I had some interviews with different nursing agencies during the week, on Friday Liam and I got the train up to Dublin, where I first had an interview with an agency in Tallaght then had to make the dash through a combo of  Luas and Taxi to make it in time to my "informal" interview at the Hermitage Clinic. I was so nervous leaving that interview, Raymond my interviewer informed me that HR will let me know the start of next week, if being called for formal interview.
The following was a wet and miserable weekend, which of course, we got the blame for, lucky enough the sun came back on Tuesday, which I think must been a great omen. As my dad got a phone call for me from the HR in the Hermitage, just as he came home from work at lunch time. HR actually offered me a nursing position instead of calling me for the formal interview. Later on that afternoon, even that wasn't enough, the agency I went to in Tallaght rang me, and she even informed that hermitage was looking for nurses and she had recommended me for an interview on the Monday. I was over the moon and could hardly believe I got the job. To round off this day, we all ended up at the bog, to start turning the hoppers which my dad had got. Both Liam and I agreed, this experience was something else altogether.

For our fathers Birthday on Wednesday the 19th, we had family Christmas dinner which was nice, first one in bout 2 years, and we couldn't ask for nicer day, weather wise. The following Saturday, my dad, Liam and I went on a road trip to Dublin, going house hunting, after a bad start, I found a lovely place near Lucan which I took. That evening we continued the work on the bog. The following week was full of packing, filling out of documents and a surprise visit from Clo and Denise out to the house. Finally on Saturday 29th was the move up to my new place in Dublin. Surprisingly Liam got a call from General Manager of the Old Ground Hotel herself, at 11 pm that night interviewing on the phone and he got a job.
So had my induction in the clinic the Monday and Tuesday and worked the rest of the week too before heading home on Friday evening for the weekend. Whereas Liam went in on Monday for a trial and ended up getting shifts from there on in.
On Tuesday evening, Liam was telling me of a story about a resident in the hotel, who he overheard talking with fellow people on the tour about doing his ancestry research and that his ancestors were Connellan coming from Lisroe, at which stage, he introduced himself. Saying that our father comes from there. On quite a funny note, seems Jim said that he came across a blog about the Connellan Reunion posted by Liam, at which Liam said that was him. Jim said that the blog was written by a Liam travelling Australia. After some crossed wires, and confusion, it was deduced that we are distantly related.

As the weather was gorgeous, we went for a road trip on the sunday to Spanish Point at the beach for a while, before heading to the Armada Hotel for some music as part of the Willie Clancy week. We made a detour to our granny's local the Boydale before home.
Went back to Dublin and normality the next day and start of a new week. The highlight was in the transfer of a patient in ambulance, which was a surreal experience. Towards the end of the week, Liam finally got to meet up with +Majella and baby Lorcan, they decided to go on a roadtrip to Kilkee as the weather was in the high 20's.

I woke up Tuesday morning to pictures and video from my mother of the articulated lorries carrying various parts of the windmills for the new wind farm in Kilmaley which passed my granny's house at about 23.30 the previous night.

  

The hard work and tears were celebrated when the turf, was brought home finally on Wednesday and Thursday 17th/18th, which was sheltered in a newly created area near the garage in the back garden from what everyone was telling me which was quite funny to hear. 

  

Emirates Delight

Our flight was pleasant enough, up to the usual standard which I expect from Etihad. We actually ended up arriving 35 mis early. The passport control was a funny experience. After baggage reclaim, we made our way out, where we got a chauffeur taxi to our hotel in Yas Island about 30 mins away. As we arrived too early, we freshened up and left our bags with the concierge. We explored the nearby area, including the Yas Marina circuit, home of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Viceroy hotel and Hotel Precinct. Afterwards thanks to advice from our concierge, we then made our way for the big bus shuttle to Abu Dhabi, we had gotten a 2 for 1 offer through Etihad guest program. At the Sheikh Zayed "Grand" Mosque, we transferred onto the main big bus tour bus which brought us on a. 2.5 hrs tour of Abu Dhabi taking in picturesque views of the cities and various landmarks such as Abu Dhabi mall, Saadiyat Island, Iranian Markets, The Corniche, The Souk, Markaziyah park and gardens, public beach and heritage village. At the Marina mall, we decided to disembark and go to the Sky Tower and have lunch. The architecture of this building was unreal, as was the views from the Sky Tower. We ended up spending bout 2 hrs in the mall before getting the bus to complete the tour. On way back towards the Grand Mosque, we passed the world famous Emirates hotel. Lucky our tour bus arrived before our Yas Island shuttle. When we arrived back on the Yas island we passed Ferrari World, on our way to the hotel precinct. We finally checked into our room, which had a view of Viceroy and the Grand Prix. Once we got settled, changed into our swimsuits and went swimming in the outdoor pools. Which has views of the nearby Yas Island Gold Plaza, Yas Water park and Abu Dhabi skyline. After this swim, we went up for quick nap, how ever due to our jet lag, was a nice sleep!

              

The following morning after a slight lie in, we were down stairs for breakfast for 8.15 am. There was a fine spread available, one could eat and eat. We got collected for our Dubai tour from our hotel at 9 am, which we had booked thanks to advice from our concierge. Worked out a lot cheaper than the alternative. Also this was a more intimate affair with only 4 passengers including ourselves.

The drive from Abu Dhabi to Dubai took approx just over an hour thanks to the main motorway connecting both cities. Only way you know you're crossing a border is the slight differences on the road such as on the Abu Dhabi side, the lamps along the stretch of road as 6 shades where on Dubai side they have only 2 and the other big difference is there are trees until you hit the Dubai side when you suddenly see the desert again. Our first port of call was on one of the Palm Island Jumeirah where various celebrities have homes such as the Beckhams, and the world famous 7 star hotel - The Altantis. From palm island, we drove to the nearby Jumeriah public beach, where we got a great of Burj Al Arab, the world tallest hotel and one of the landmark buildings of Dubai. Lucky enough despite slight haze, we got to see the developing World Island. 

 

From Jumeriah, we drove to the  Dubai Mall, which is home to over 1,200 stores, Olympic sized ice rink, waterfall feature, largest suspended aquarium and the Dubai water fountain. The fountain daily at 1 pm has a water show which is an amazing sight. Also in this location, Burj Khalifa which is the  worldest tallest building. After spending time here for lunch, we departed at bout 2.30 and travelled to the Al Fahidi Fort which been converted into the Dubai museum. Also in this area, is the Dubai grand mosque. After passing several mosques including the blue tiled Iranian and  grand mosque with the city's tallest minaret, we got an Abra, a traditional wooden transport boat used to cross the Dubai creek from the Bur Dubai side to Deira side. Deira is home to the Iranian spice and gold Souks which both are definitely worth a visit. After our visit to The souks, we got the Apra back and then began the journey back to Abu Dhabi. We were back at our hotel about 6.30, although quite a long day, it was well worth it.

After a quick rest, we got drinks by the pool bar, were we relaxed before going for a walk around Yas island. About 10.30 we checked out of the hotel and got a taxi to the airport, which had been arranged by the concerige. Taxi only took 10 mins and cost about 20 dirham which is in stark contrast to the 100 we paid when we arrived. Make sure if getting a taxi, always get the metered ones. When we got to our check in desk, we found out that our flight had been delayed. We had dinner and explored the duty free before finally boarding at approx 2 am. We were shuttle bused out to our plane which was the blue moon rising, Manchester city football club plane. The journey itself was quite pleasant, and the staff, entertainment and food were great as always. We landed just before 8 am Irish time, where we were greeted by our parents, which was quite an emotional affair. 

From Reality to Holiday and Packing Mode

Monday May 20th, +Liam got a call from the Alfred centre to cancel his OPD appointment due to a mis-communication and the fact that his colonscopy hadn't been scheduled. So we decided to go into the city and whilst over chocolate at Theobroma Chocolate started discussing our plans for our stopover in Abu Dhabi. +I went to the Alfred myself early the next morning for my final check up which included an X-ray, consultant and physio. I was told that I had no restrictions and could finally start physiotherapy. It was great to get the all clear. Both Liam and myself spent the afternoon and evening catching up on our tv shows and watching Harry Potter. It is always nice to just sit back and relax.

Majority of that week for both of us was spent working, the most unusual place that Liam worked that week was at the MCG on Friday, which is the Melbourne Cricket Ground, for the Collinwood vs Sydney Swans AFL game, in various corporate boxes. With majority of the 60,000 strong crowd Collinwood fans, Liam was telling me, when they lose, they are sore losers.
We both went into city together, whilst I was waiting for Liam to finish work, typically my own shift got cancelled, like every Saturday, however we went for dinner on Elizabeth street in a place called Coneheads, with probably the best chips we have had since been in Melbourne. Thanks again for the advice girlies. Afterwards went into the Coles next door and got some ingredients for a veggie roast for Sunday dinner.

After Liam came home from his Sunday morning shift in Mr Hive in Crown Casino, we started preparing and cooking the roast, which we both agreed was probably one of the best home cooked meals we have had since been in Australia however realised how much we both missed our parents' "Sunday" roast dinners. That evening we went for a stroll along St Kilda.

Monday morning against all better judgement, we were up early and got 2 trams towards Vermont South, near the home of Ramsay Street, the main neighbourhood in Neighbours. When we arrived we were quite lucky to see some filming. The scene in question was between Brad and Joshua Willis, the new family on the street. We were also so lucky to get a photo with the Ramsay Street sign, only thanks to the security guard on set. After a while, we headed back to the tram and got it into the city, where we went for lunch in Wagamama in South bank followed by a coffee/hot chocolate in Lindt. That afternoon we got our accommodation and tour sorted for Abu Dhabi, thanks to the Etihad Guest program. After paying rent that evening, we went for a drink in Pint on Punt followed by a takeaway pizza from My Goodness pizza around the corner.

Lucky enough, somehow I managed to meet Liam after he finished his shift on Wednesday and before I headed for mine, and he told me all about the drama involving 3 fire engines that arrived at the Institute, where he was waitering at, during a graduation ceremony. It sounded quite hilarious, that everyone carried on eating and drinking away, not caring about the fire engines or fire men.

After Liam finished work on Friday, as it was only drizzling I met him in St. Kilda. However on route it started down pouring. We managed to get our few groceries before getting the 96 tram closer to the house. However, on route, a car swerved in front of the tram. Quick thinking by the tram driver, it was only a minor accident and the only casualty was the driver's car. After this, we swapped on to our next tram, as it was still pouring, it was the Legally Blonde one, ironically, we had just been talking about, going to see it. The downpour continued throughout the night in junction with thunder and lightning, which seemed to be just above all night.

Whilst Liam was working at MEC, I noticed was browsing online, that the play Death of Peter Pan was on offer with Half tix for the final two nights. So I went in and bought two tickets for the closing night, which was the following night, as that nights performance was sold out. I also got tickets for a dinner show for Draculas Cabaret on Wednesday night. After Liam met me at Starbucks, we made our way for dinner, when we got side tracked by the Hollywood  sign at ACMI. Of course photos had to be taken. On our way to southbank, we spotted a crowd had gathered in Fed Sq, around a camp fire and didgeridoo playing. We quickly found out, it was the opening night of the Solstice celebration for the light in Winter and the helix tree. This involved, music, choir and the lighting of the helix tree. From here, we strolled along south bank to Merrywell for dinner and its Merry Hour special, a drink and burger for 15 dollars.

                 

                         
The highlight of Sunday was a late brunch followed by the play. We both agreed, that the play Death of Peter Pan was a lot more Humorous  than we expected. However, the final scene evoked the desired reaction from the audience by pulling at the heart strings. The cast and the play's production, we felt were outstanding.

As we had a Scoopon to use, we went for dinner to an Italian in South Yarra called Versachi. During dinner, which was yummy, we decided to go to the Elephant for the Neighbours Trivia Night, as we found out through facebook, we could get in for free, as we been there before and had a photo with Alan Fletcher aka Dr Karl. Like always, we had such a fun packed night, between the music, trivia and getting photos taken with Dr Karl, Liddy Kennedy and Stingray who was quite witty and cute.

Alan  Fletcher's band Waiting Room were brilliant as always. Jokingly Dr Karl gave us all his twitter name and said to tweet him if we enjoyed ourselves, if not say ye were at the Prince of Wales. Liam typically tweeted @doctorkk with a link to a Youtube video which he recorded during the band's set. The video in question was Susan's song and surprisingly enough Dr Karl actually replied.

@kickflips well done for coming to @neighboursnight and your vid of Susan song ain't 2 bad! Cheers. youtu.be/zeDoufQcM3U
— Alan Fletcher (@doctorkk) June 3, 2013

The next day, the big pack commenced and with most of it sorted, Liam decided we should go into town and go to Half Tix and get tickets Legally Blonde for that nights performance. As he owed me for the other tickets. We had great tickets in the stalls, a free drink at intermission and got to meet some of the main cast after show, who were lovely, also posing for photos and signing autographs. The show itself was exactly how  I pictured it, fabulously hilarious and pink!  

With all the packing sorted, and our last full day left in Melbourne, was time to do some last minute shopping and such before the night's festivities. I finally got my koala charm for my Pandora bracelet. We got a chance finally to go to Asian Beer Cafe and see what all the fuss was about. Was a great way to sit back and relax before Draculas Cabaret show. When we arrived a few of us were marched into this small dark room, and given a rundown of the entertainment and antics. From here, we were shown to the cocktail bar upstairs. Liam was telling his cocktail was quite strong not surprising when the barman was free pouring, the way he was. We then were hurriedly rushed onto the ghost train, which was a funny and spooky filled experience. After our departure off the train, it was a short trip down a few stairs, where we were greeted by our hosts, who seated us. The dinner and entertainment which followed were brilliant, everyone got involved , from the waitering staff to the singers on stage. To everyone in the audience surprise, a guy from Perth, proposed to his girlfriend with some help from Draculas. Lucky enough she said Yes. We both agreed, it was well worth it, and so much fun.
                              

After making sure everything was packed and sorted, we had a quick bite to eat before making the journey into the city. Lucky and by pure chance, we finally got to meet one of our cousins, who made the train from Swan Hill, which is over 4.5 hours away. It was great to finally get to meet Cathy and hear various family antidotes. But before we knew it, the time for all of us to depart came upon us. From Cathy to catch the V Line train back to Swan Hill and for us to get the Skybus to the Airport. Lucky enough, the Check in desk was open and didn't take us too long, or get thru Security and Customs. All that awaited us now was a 14 plus flight to Abu Dhabi.