Sports Events in Ireland

Waterville is true links golf that dates back to around 1900. It is located along the Ring of Kerry, which is a driving route that shouldn't be missed when visiting southwest Ireland. This course was a favorite of Payne Stewart, who was an Honorary Captain of the club, prior to his untimely demise. There is now a bronze statue of Payne, which seems to attract everyone with a camera. The course itself requires accuracy, as the wind, the dunes and the goarse (seaside grasses and shrubs) are all there to challange your skills. This is a long and relatively difficult layout, and the fees are reasonable.

4 more images

In preparation for an upcoming holiday on a ranch in Montana I was looking around for a place in Ireland where I could get familiar with the Western style of horse riding, and came across the Fossey Mountain Springs Ranch on the web. We weren't too sure what to expect when we sent out there, and were very pleasantly surprised. The owner has put a lot of work into setting up a wildwest style ranch, complete with a function room that is made to look like a saloon, where everybody just hangs out for a chat, or which can be used to host parties.

Michael, the owner, has the largest collection of Paint Horses in Ireland, together with a number of Appaloosas and quarterhorses. He practices "natural horsemanship", where the horse accepts you as the boss and is happy to do for you what you ask it to do, just by the energy that you project. He gave us a demonstration and made the horse trot and canter in a circle by just clicking his tongue and waving a rope at it. And when he stopped in the middle of the circle and turned his back to the horse, the horse would stop dead in its tracks and join up with him and stand shoulder to shoulder with him, and then follow him around. Absolutely amazing. Then we had to get into the corral and try to do the same thing, and of course the horse was nowhere near as obliging to us as it was to him, but we at least we got it to walk and trot, and it would come to us when we turned around, but stand a good bit away, rather than right next to us.

We really liked the easy-going atmosphere at the ranch, where you just go with the flow, and apart from teaching Western riding Michael also gives lessons in natural horsemanship and in rope work, or you can try your hand at archery.

We definitely had a most enjoyable day at the ranch, and will try to go out there more often in future.

There is a website, but with the focus being on working with horses rather than updating websites it is rather sparsely populated so far, and does not really do justice to the place at all.

Ireland has some of the most stunning courses in the World. There are several tour companies running golf holidays including Carr's. The course here at Birr is small but challenging. The featured hole in the photo is the number 10 which tees off over the entry road and gets norrower and narrower until you reach the green. Not much room for error on the approach!

Equipment: Everything can be hired when you get here however I would advise that you bring at least your golf shoes - not nice to have blisters on tour!!

Having taken two golfing excursions to southwest Ireland in the past four years, we found it much easier to establish our tee times before we arrived. SWING - South West Ireland Golf does a great job setting up the tee times for our foursome. Their charge is minimal - I think around 90 euro for setting up the whole week, but was worth every cent. They provided driving instructions from our rental house in Killarney and arranged a later tee time one day when our clubs didn't arrive on our flight. They are worth their weight in gold.

http://www.swinggolfireland.com/catalog/index.php

Mark in Oklahoma

4 more images

A unique travel for couples and falimies is the tour boating by a badge in the canals and lakes of Ireland two hours driving to the east of Ireland.

Equipment: You only have to rent a badge and make shoping for food and drinks.

4 more images

In September you will always have the Hurling/Camogie finals in Ireland. They take place at Croke Park Stadium in Dublin. When we visited in 2006, we were lucky to see the U21 finals and the Senior Camogie (women's) final. Absolutely fantastic atmosphere!!!

Hurling/camogie is a Gaelic sport and is a mixture of field hockey, baseball and "Eierlaufen" (balancing an egg on a piece of wood) - and it is supposed to be the fastes field game in the world. Those balls can speed up to 150 km/h - and they are fetched by the players at that speed! Fascinating indeed! If you have a chance, do go see a hurling game! It is absolutely worthwhile!

1 more image

Hurling is a native Irish sport played upon a field with a leather ball and an ash stick known as a hurley or caman. Akin to lacrosse and hockey, hurling is much faster. Waterford is one of the fantastic hurling centers!

Sport is an integral part of Dublin life – Gaelic football, hurling, soccer and rugby matches all feature prominently in daily conversations in Dublin!

The centre of Dublin city is only minutes away from open countryside and has many activities to tempt all lovers of outdoor pursuits!

The mountains and Dublin’s coastline are within easy reach of scenic walks. Some of the sports activities on offer include: Sailing, Fishing, Windsurfing, Horse riding, Cycling, and Walking.

A great point to start is here > Dublin Sports&Activities

Equipment: whatever it takes