The wonderful world of Ireland’s greatest sports

DUBLIN HAVE long been one of the dominant teams in Gaelic football, an Irish sport. The men’s side have won nine All-Ireland finals, the sport’s biggest match, since 2011. So when Galway, a county in western Ireland, beat them in a championship match for the first time in 90 years last month—by a single point—many Galway fans responded with near-hysterical elation. Your correspondent jumped on her sofa and did a lot of shouting. Ollie Turner, a sports commentator on Galway Bay FM, roared his way to viral fame. “Sweet Mother of Jesus. They have pulled off the unthinkable,” he exclaimed. “The West Awake! Gaillimh Abú! [Galway Forever!]”

July is the important month for fans of Ireland’s biggest native sports, Gaelic football and hurling (which resembles a sort of full-contact combination of hockey and lacrosse). On the 21st the 82,300-seat Croke Park stadium in Dublin hosts the final of the All-Ireland hurling championship between Cork and Clare. A week later the men of Galway meet those of Armagh (one of Northern Ireland’s six counties, which also compete) in the football final. Although excitement levels can go off the scale in the finalists’ counties, big matches also have national significance.