Super Babhla 💰🇮🇪

So, What’s the Craic?

The Craic returns with a whistle and a waltz this Friday, bringing you news and bits and pieces covering the Irish at home and abroad. Like this newsletter? Really? You do? Be a doll and send it on to a friend or acquaintance with this little link right here.

News from Home

The Final Countdown. We are in the middle of the biggest week in Irish sports. Last Sunday, Tipperary hammered Cork in the All-Ireland Hurling Final in a game where the latter inexplicably collapsed in the second half. And this Sunday, it’s the turn of Kerry and Donegal in the Football Final. Kerry are just about marginal favorites, but it’s anyone’s guess as to who’ll come out on top at Croker. This is the Irish Super Bowl, folks. The Super Babhla, if you will.

Apple Pay. The 14 billion Euro question in Ireland over the last few years has been what to do with the “Apple money,” i.e., the huge lump sum the iPhone maker paid to Ireland, which the latter reluctantly (it’s a long, strange story) accepted. The answer is here: Basically, it’s going to build everything, including housing projects. Importantly, there’s also a billy in place for the Shared Island Fund, which creates links between the Republic and the North. Nothing too silly, then, like giving everyone on the island a couple of grand (boo!), but a sensible option for a lot of money that will go a long way in a small country.

It's Yer Man. You’ll, of course, be aware of all the craic about yer man and woman caught canoodling at the Coldplay concert. Well, Andy Byron from Dublin has the same name as the Casanova-channeling CEO. And as the internet can’t seem to comprehend that two people in the world can have the same name, the Dublin Andy was inundated with messages on LinkedIn asking why he was loved up in front of Chris Martin and co. Full of rockets, the internet.

Google Oops. A bit of a mishap on Google Maps’ part recently. A user sought to find the nearest Lidl (a popular discount grocery store) in Dublin and pop down for a few bargains: only problem was that the listing was based on a fictitious grocery store used on the set of the long-running Irish soap opera, Fair City. The woman turned up at RTE studios with her shopping bags, only to learn it was a television set. Lidl, never one to let a good marketing opportunity slip from its grasp, has been blarting the story over social media this week.

Best of Ireland. We love an aul poll to remind us how great Ireland is, and we have two this week: the first names two Dublin pubs among the best 25 in Europe. Grogans and The Gravediggers are beloved by locals and savvy tourists, and great spots for pints of creamy stout. You can check out the full list here. The second survey named a Mayo spot – Keem Beach – among the top 50 beaches in the world. In truth, we could name dozens of beaches along Ireland’s gorgeous west coast deserving of a place on the list.

The Irish Influence

Hundreds of Irish women have taken part in the Olympics down the decades, creating heroes like Katie Taylor, Mary Peters, and Sonia O’Sullivan, but it had to start somewhere, and that was with Maeve Kyle. She appeared at three Summer Olympics (1956-1964), and while she didn’t medal at those events, she had an illustrious career in track and field. Kyle passed away this week at the age of 96, but she will be immortalized as a trailblazer as Ireland’s first female Olympian, one who was all the more worthy of praise as she did it in an Ireland that was still very patriarchal.

Cúpla Focal

Abú {Ab-oo} – Victory. If you are travelling through Ireland this week, you’ll inevitably see flags with the words “Donegal Abú” or “Kerry Abú” as those two countries are set to contest the All-Ireland Football Final. It literally means “forever,” but it’s come to mean “up with” or “to victory!”

Blast from the Past

We were having a bit of an old perusal at the Irish singles charts from the 1980s (as you do), and a little doozy caught our eye from The Fureys and Davy Arthur, who landed a number one single 44 years ago this week. The Fureys were a band of brothers of Traveller heritage, whereas Arthur, a frequent partner, is a popular folk singer. Their collaboration on When You Were Sweet Sixteen – we did a bit of background reading on the meaning of the song and it’s not as creepy as it sounds, thankfully – took a 19th-century ballad and gave it the old Celtic folk treatment. It’s a soothing, dulcet tune, and if you can find the right pub off the beaten track on the right evening, you’ll hear plenty like it.

And One Last Thing….

Michael Flatley, you know yer man with the flying legs who invented Riverdance, well, he’s seriously considering a bid for the Irish Presidency. He joins a crowded field, including a lot of ‘serious’ politicians and the not-so-serious Conor McGregor. Flatley has been echoing McGregor in talking about being a man for the ‘real’ people and all that shite, but we should just remind everyone that the President of Ireland is a ceremonial role: You get to kiss babies and cut ribbons to open new supermarkets and stuff like that. We don’t know if any of these candidates will make a good President, but we know we love the current one as if he were our very own grandad.

Yay! You made it all the way to the end! If you liked this bit of craic, remember to pass it on to your mates. They can sign up here: https://www.thecraic.us/

The Craic is brought to you by the lads from Shift. Shift is the directory of all things Irish, and the first-of-its-kind IRL social, dating, and everything else network - the Shift App is arriving late Summer!