The daughter, two cousins and I set off in a taxi from Howth to watch Ireland beat England in Malahide.
We pulled up at the gate of the ground and were pounced on by securuty,
You can't stop here.....they said.....not even to drop off....you can't even pull in here.....you can't get out of a vehicle here!
Where do we go then?....we asked.....
Ah, sure you're here now with the door open so youse might as well just get out.
I had taken a bottle of fizz....as I do to Lord's...I had looked at the website to see if there were alcohol restrictions. There are often in England....but nothing here.....
At the bag search area I was asked if I had any alcohol. I can't lie to save my life.....so I said yes...
'Tis banned in the ground.......said the nice Luke Kelly lookalike.....we need to take it from you and bin it.
Hmmm.....thought I.....there must be another way to save my fizz.....
Well....said Luke.....you can do what everyone else is doing.....see that field over there?....You go in there and find a bush...you hide your drink in the bushes and collect it at the end of the game.
So off I trekked into the field....full of people pretending to hide bottles in bushes.....so I pretended to hide my bottle under a bush. I have large pockets......
Then we all went through security.......offered our bags for a search....and were nodded through by Luke with a wink and a smile.
We found our seats in the row marked C.....the place filled up....and that was when we found the rows were one letter out......it is Ireland.....so the game started like a barn dance.....with everyone moving back a row....
The cricket?.....Well England won the toss.....elected to bowl.....and fifteen overs in the rain arrived.......
So......we came home.......
Too many overs in Ireland for a refund.......very little cricket.....but another wonderful Irish day.....x
It was a fun day in a way.......but if I was a Dub kid I'd have sussed out the hiding booze in the bushes thing.....waited til the game started.....then stocked up...x