By six o'clock everyone was talking about the weather. It was marvellous, they said, how dry it was and there had been no rain.
No one was talking about the Kerrygold Nations Cup, the cup we were supposed to win this year, with the Irish team in such good form and all that.
But at least it did not rain, as it did shortly after four o'clock on Wednesday and Thursday.
And, with our neighbours, the British team, not making the cut, it took some of the sting out of Ireland coming fourth behind the Belgians, the French and the Americans.
Most of the people who were watching the absorbing competition in the main arena were oblivious of the fact that somewhere around the third round, the Northern institutions had been temporarily suspended.
RTE television broke into its live coverage to bring us the news as the Belgians relentlessly drove forward to their first Aga Khan cup win.
I suspect there were few people at the show from the Gateway plant where the hard rain fell earlier in the week and 900 jobs were lost.
One of the catering staff said her daughter and son-in-law had planned to come here yesterday but the trip had been cancelled after the job losses were announced on Wednesday.
"The stripes are coming off the Celtic Tiger," she said, adding that the young couple, who have two small children, are hoping to put their house in Lucan on the market "before the rush".
The only sign of a rush here was out of the jumping arena to get a good warm bar stool somewhere before the main exodus. But then again, it didn't rain. We have a lot to be thankful for.