Hallelujah! At last we got the rub of the green

PS: SHANE Ross tweeted this photo of Kerry TD Danny Healy-Rae asleep at Croke Park on Sunday. Healy Rae’s response? He called the Transport Minister a ‘waste of space’.

THE great hurling famine of 1973-2018 finally came to an end for the people of Limerick on Sunday, and the citizens of the Treaty City came out in their tens of thousands to pay tribute to the men who made it happen.

An estimated 80,0000 people thronged the city-centre streets, and inside the Gaelic Grounds, to celebrate their team’s lifting of the Liam MacCarthy Cup.

After the young hurling stars arrived by train into Colbert Station, little Darragh Connolly, aged eight, quickly became the star of the show, as players held him aloft alongside Liam. Soon the All-Ireland champions had joined the thousands at the railway station in an emotional rendition of the county’s hurling anthem, Limerick, You’re A Lady.

‘I felt so excited when they lifted me up. I just can’t believe it, it’s just been a magnificent day,’ said a thrilled Darragh.

From another generation, James Kirby, 73, and his wife Mary were both in tears. James, who was in Croke Park for Limerick’s last All Ireland triumph, said: ‘Our son Anthony was four in 1973 when we won the All-Ireland final, and [on Sunday] he drove us up to the match. It was great for us all to be there together.’

RTÉ sports commentator Marty Morrisey didn’t need to get the crowd going, but prompted one of the biggest roars of the night when he quipped: ‘The biggest party is in Limerick tonight… And you know Marty loves to party.’

Meanwhile, thousands of supporters turned out in Galway to welcome home their hurlers yesterday evening – though it was more subdued than last September when they brought the Liam MacCarthy Cup back with them.

However, they did have the All Ireland minor hurling title to celebrate, their third success in the grade in four years.