The time: 10:30am Saturday morning and we're off on a magical bus ride to Tipperary county. Upon first arrival at the Rock of Cashel it became immediately apparent why it has been marked as one of the need-to-see locales in Ireland. It's stunning silhouette had all of our jaws dropped. Parts of the castle date back to the 12th and 13th centuries. When we got there we watched a 12 minute video clip that, I think everyone would have agreed with me in saying, was worthless. After the video we had time to explore the castle an it's surrounding cemetery. The site itself, planted on top of a hill, was not ridiculously expansive but the history that took place in that location certainly was.
After leaving the rock of cashel, we headed into Tipperary to see the All-Ireland U-21 Hurling Match featuring Galway vs. Tipperary. It was an extremely exciting event with 21,110 people attending. There was dissension over the fact that it was being held in a non-neutral location and many of the Galway fans boycotted the match. That put us in the ranks of the hundreds of Galway supporters. Luckily, there were a few Galway loyalists who sat in the row behind us. I hopped up to sit next to them and got the blow by blow of everything that made hurling, and Galway, amazing. The fans were definitely slightly psychotic but that only made eveything more exciting. You may think I'm exaggerating so I'll prove it with a specific incident:
Setting: Tipperary player gets railed hard and is laying face down on the field. Play stops. Ref, trainers, and health officers rush towards the downed player.
Me: "Oh Man! That guy just got F*d up!"
Galway Fan: "Good. I hope so. I hope he's dead."
End Scene. True Story. All in all the game was a blowout and it was not in favor of Galway. Nonetheless it was extremely fun and filled with hard-hitting action.
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