When soccer players Rui Rijo and Nuno Reis left Lisbon several days ago, they probably never imagined that their Olympic training would be tested on Atlantic waters.
It was on a pre-dawn passage to Inis Mór, the largest of the Aran Islands, yesterday that they and their Portuguese compatriots received their first instructions in Irish dancing.
Thanks to Tom Joyce on the "buttons", ceol agus damhsa helped to shorten the final stages of a long journey. The Portuguese team of eight footballers and four athletes had been due to fly from Dublin to Galway on Monday night, from where they were due to be taken by bus to Rossaveal.
Inis Mór Ferries, the company owned by five Aran Island fishermen, had organised a special midnight sailing from Rossaveal to Kilronan for the team. However, plans had to be changed when the connecting Aer Arann flight from Dublin was cancelled. An Aer Arann spokes- woman said this was due to a technical hitch.
Somehow a bus was organised by Ms Sally Flaherty and members of the Inis Mór Host Town Committee, and the weary athletes arrived at the Connemara harbour shortly after 2 a.m. There to greet them on the Queen of Aran II was a party of over 20 islanders, and Mr Padraic Whelan of Inis Mór Ferries had even rustled up some late night fare.
Ms Regina Costa, head of the Portuguese delegation, was overwhelmed. Her assistant liaison, Mr George Santos, said it couldn't have been a better welcome. Even the weather held out, as the ferry made the 45-minute passage on a silken sea. Approaching the berth at Kilronan at about 3 a.m., the team was greeted to roars and applause from some 60 islanders who had gathered at the quay.
There were cups of tea and more sandwiches in host houses, before the athletes made it to their beds. Nine host families, including two sets of Flahertys, two sets of Gills, Powells, Mullens, McDonaghs, O'Connells and Coynes, are putting the Portuguese up for four days.
"Our plans for language instruction fell through, but we have a few phrases to help people feel at home," said Ms Flaherty and Ms Olwen Gill yesterday, as the soccer players gathered at Cill Einne pitch.
Ten visiting children from Belarus, who are part of the Chernobyl Children's Project, participated in yesterday morning's training session with the eight Portuguese soccer players Last night, by a happy coincidence, the Garda Síochána band was playing in Halla Ronain in aid of the RNLI.
Today, the Portuguese Ambassador to Ireland, Mr Fernando d'Oliveira Neves, is due to spend the day on Inis Mór, and pupils from three national schools will join in a sports day and picnic - weather permitting.
The delegation will travel to Dublin for the Games on Friday morning.