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So, What’s the Craic?

The Craic is back and ready to deliver more news of the Irish at home and away. The Craic is the weekly newsletter from Shift, our app to connect the Irish worldwide. Want Shift? Join 1000s of others by downloading it here. And if you’d like someone else to have The Craic each week, send ‘em this way.

News from Home

Going Viral. We’d say a fair few American sports fans were left scratching their heads when an U20s hurling clip was selected as ESPN’s Play of the Day, but Mark Sheedy’s penalty save for Clare was something to behold, with clips of it going viral across the net. We estimated the sliotar going at a speed of 186,000 miles-per-second (give or take a few miles), so how he saved it we’ll never know. We’ve added the penalty shootout video below. If you don’t want to watch the whole thing (you should), the iconic save comes in at about 7mins 40. Great stuff. What a global advert for hurling.

Nul Points. The big talking point this week at home is what’s NOT on the telly this weekend – Eurovision. Ireland, as you may know, is historically one of the most successful nations in the contest (though we’ve been crap in the modern era), but it chose to boycott this year, along with Spain, the Netherlands, and a couple of others. The stated reason for the boycott is the participation of Israel after its actions in the Gaza War. The national broadcaster, RTÉ, has chosen not to broadcast the competition on Saturday. Instead, it will be showing the classic Father Ted episode – and glorious Eurovision pastiche – A Song for Europe.

Goodbye, Old Friend. The Botanic “The Bot” Inn has been a stalwart of Belfast’s student nightlife for decades. The Craic can recall watching Robbie Keane’s iconic World Cup goal against Germany there, and we also remember when you could get a steak and a pint for a fiver. Alas, the pub will be demolished to make way for a new hotel and student accommodation. We know things change, but any time a historic Irish pub closes its doors, it’s worthy of regret.

The Craic Recommends. Wanna know Jessie Buckley’s favorite track? She recently picked The Gloaming’s Samhradh Samhradh as her top ”Desert Island Disc,” and, wow, the Oscar winner has classy taste. The Craic is a big fan of The Gloaming and the master musicians’ ability to fuse Irish-language poetry into their tracks. Beautiful, beautiful stuff. Check out their albums here.

The Irish Influence

In this golden age of Irish cinema, there’s a healthy contingent of les Irlandais at the Cannes Film Festival this week, including the superlative Ruth Negga, who’s been selected for grand jury duty. But one who’s caught our eye is Franco-Irish director Alexander Murphy, whose Tin Castle documentary will have its world premiere at the festival. Murphy is known for docs on marginalized and overlooked communities. Tin Castle follows an Irish Traveller family facing eviction. If you can’t make it to Cannes this weekend, then perhaps check out Murphy’s wonderful directorial debut, Goodbye Sisters, before Tin Castle becomes available to the rest of us non-Cannes-going plebs.

Cúpla Focal

Baghcat {BY-kot} – Boycott. Since we’re looking at the aul Eurovision boycott this week: The word “boycott” famously originates from Irish protests of English landowner Charles Boycott, so baghcat offers a nice linguistic loop, as it is, for all intents and purposes, the Irish translation of the name Boycott. So we have an Irish translation of an English word born out of Irish protests of the English, if you can get your head around that. 

Blast from the Past

Ireland has become a tolerant, open-minded country, aside from a few pockets of smelly bigots here and there, but it’s always worth remembering that such an outlook took time and a lot of bravery. The George is celebrating 40 years in business, and it’s become the flagship home of Dublin’s LGBTQ community. Originally seen as a safe space for the gay community, the pub opened its doors a full eight years before homosexuality was legalized in Ireland. Its history has been punctuated by reminders that there’s work to do – the pub was vandalized with swastikas and homophobic graffiti in 2017 – but this icon of Dublin’s nightlife also reminds us of how far we’ve come. 

And One Last Thing (or two)….

We are celebrating another milestone at Shift, passing 5,000 app users this week. While that’s a nice marker, it is evident that we are only just getting started. As we celebrate this wee milestone, let’s say some thanks to those making it happen — Jack and Kate for making this newsletter happen, the entire dev team at 3Advance for spinning up the app, constantly improving it and responding with all kinds fixes. Big love to Vivienne for boosting Shift’s social media presence. And congrats to Patrick, Paul and Darren for reaching the milestone and keeping the Good Ship Shift on a steady course! And I suppose we need to thank the most important people. YOU! The community that drives us. 💚

Finally, if you’re anywhere in the great state of New York, check out the famous East Durham Irish Festival next weekend. We’re partnering with the good folks in East Durham to celebrate the 49th festival, with incredible acts from Derek Warfield and the Young Wolftones to the marvelous Meadhbh Walsh, and everything in between… Just make sure to check-in with the Shift app to win free drinks and t-shirts!