Well it’s black and amber all the way this week and I suppose why shouldn’t it be!
We should be very proud to have both our minor and senior hurlers in All-Ireland finals together once again and let’s hope that the seniors can achieve what they are setting out to achieve this year — the all elusive four-in-a-row! The Liam McCarthy would probably feel homesick if it had to be moved to a different county at this stage, it has been resident here for so long now!
The county has rounded up hordes of colourful support and the roads and streets and housing estates of Kilkenny are bedecked in banners and bunting in the county’s famous colours. The lads can be in no doubt that they have the support of the masses behind them. There is an interesting story in our hurling feature this week about former hurling star, Ollie Walsh, who was on the last team that won in an All-Ireland final against Tipperary. His son Billy remembers an incident that almost led to him not playing that day... but the show must go on!
Speaking of shows, although the county is hurling mad as we all know, Kilkenny is also renowned for its arts and cultural activity and although the arts festival is done and dusted for another year there is still no end to the fun, cultural events that take place in our city and county every week. Last Friday night Musica in Maschera took to the open air theatre which was created in Highbank Orchard at Cuffesgrange and audience members (aloft bales of hay! ) were treated to a lovely evening of young opera singers, actors, and ballet dancers. The evening was a special treat and it didn’t rain, which was an added bonus.
This week we had the Cologne Philharmonic Orchestra at St Canice’s Cathedral. This was a beautiful event of classical music. And although you might think you know nothing about classical music, when you go to a concert you realise that many of the old classical melodies are now household tunes. This is as a result of their use in advertisements and more recently in film soundtracks. This is a great way to familiarise yourself with classical music but you might never know the name or the composer of the tunes you like — therefore a trip to a classical concert can help you out there.
Many people would not think that they would be interested in listening to George Frideric Handel’s ‘Hence Iris, hence away’ arranged for oboe, however if you were to hear it you would definitely know it and love it.
The moral is open your mind to new cultural activities and also support local arts and cultural events that are taking place in your locality — if they are not supported they will not return and we don’t want to have to revert to the days that we had to travel to Dublin to see a good concert or play.
On a final note, best of luck to the two teams this weekend in Croke Park and to all the people who are cycling to Croke Park for various charities. This is no easy feat and they should be commended for their efforts. Local charities that are suffering as a result of the recession will put the funds raised to maintaining many services that could not be offered unless donations were being received.
So, Up The Cats — give it welly — and bring Liam back to his adopted hometown!
