In what is normally a quiet month, especially with post summer blues, this September ended up being anything but.  The following photos will give you a flavour of what I was at…

For the week that’s in it, I thought I would share my own Scottish related story,  that I only learned about this year.

Most people are familiar with the story of Robert the Bruce and the Battle of Bannockburn (William Wallace, Braveheart and all that), where the Scots defeated the English, in what was the First War of Scottish Independence – 2014 was the 700th anniversary of Bannockburn.

What a lot of people don’t know is that Robert Bruce had a younger brother, by the name of Edward Bruce.  Following the success at Bannockburn, Robert Bruce continued his war against the English, but this time in Ireland as part of an invasion led by his younger brother, Edward.

Edward and his army (supported by the O’Neills of Tyrone) landed close to Larne in 1315.  On arrival at Carrickfergus in June that year, Edward Bruce was pronounced as King of Ireland by the O’Neills.  Many parts of Ulster and Leinster were conquered over the next number of years.

After several years of war, failure to hold on to conquered land, and a diminishing army, Edward Bruce was defeated at the Battle of Faughart at the end of 1318.

Faughart is located just off the M1 outside Dundalk, close to the Ballymacscanlon roundabout.  In an ancient graveyard on a hill above the townland – overlooking the South Armagh / North Louth countryside, the grave of Edward Bruce can still be seen.

2014 All-Ireland Hurling Final – Kilkenny 3-22 (31)  Tipperary 1-28 (31)

Sunday 7th September, Croke Park Dublin.

Unbelievably, for the third successive year, the All-Ireland Hurling Final ended in a draw.  After going 53 years without a draw, the three most recent finals have all went to a replay.

After the Kilkenny / Tipperary battles of recent years, and last year’s Clare / Cork epic, it was thought that hurling couldn’t get much better.  Yesterdays game however, will go down as one of the best games ever played.  The game had everything – 62 scores – 44 of which came from play –  with only 9 wides; cracking goals; missed penalties; and of course hawkeye – making that final call which sent the game to a replay.

Both sides could have won the game, but after the effort that went into yesterdays classic, no-one deserved to lose.  The skill and fitness levels of these amateur players is actually frightening, they would put most professional sports participants to shame.

It was a privilege to be at the game yesterday.  How it didn’t sell out initially is strange, but following the release of unsold tickets late Friday afternoon, these were quickly snapped up and the 82,179 that were in attendance were treated to a classic.

Its less than three weeks until the replay.  Can Tipperary surprise Kilkenny again or will the legendary manager Brian Cody and one of the greatest players of all time, Henry Shefflin, finally get their hands on a tenth title.

The search for tickets begins now.

GAA.ie Match Report – Click Here.

In an entertaining curtain raiser, the All-Ireland Minor final was won by Kilkenny, who defeated Limerick on a score line of 2-17 (23) to 0-19.

An important part of All-Ireland final day is the presentation to the crowd of the 25 year jubilee team.  This year was the turn of the Tipperary Hurling team that defeated Antrim in the 1989 Hurling Final.

Some more images of the day can be seen on my flickr page –click here 

(and if you know of any tickets for the replay, or even the football final, give me a shout…) 

Towards the end of July, I ended up one day along Northern Ireland’s North Coast, and in particular the stretch of coastline between Portrush and Ballintoy.

It was meant to be the middle of summer, but instead of the blazing sun hitting off the water, it ended up being probably the dullest day of July.

Still, that didn’t stop me from exploring some of the lesser known sights along this stretch of the Causeway Coastal Route – no Giant’s Causeway, Carrick a Rede or Bushmills on this visit, they will just have to wait for another time.

Instead, for the first time ever I ended up on Whiterocks Beach just outside Portrush and then Portbradden (passing the wonderful Dunluce Castle along the way).  Portbradden is a wonderful small village/harbour located on the edge of White Park Bay – famous itself for the resident cows that enjoy bathing on the beach – sunny or not.  Portbradden is also home to St. Gobban’s Church, believed to be Ireland’s smallest church.

My final stop along this 13 mile stretch of coastline was to Ballintoy Harbour – a picturesque harbour, now made famous by its appearance in hit TV series, Game of Thrones.  Alongside the harbour, is a great walk along the shoreline that is part of the Causeway Coastal path.

Some more photos of the day can be seen on my flickr page – clicking here.