Thousands of weary, mud-splattered festival-goers began leaving Punchestown racecourse from the early hours of yesterday as Oxegen, the country's biggest music festival, wound up for another year.
The mass exodus of up to 80,000 concert-goers began in earnest around 9am, while mud - and lots of it - proved problematic for the thousands of motorists who had parked in the official car parks before they were closed to the public on Friday evening following heavy rain.
The noise of engines revving, wheels turning and mud flying was deafening at times as some motorists dug themselves into trenches in frantic efforts to get moving with many relying on jeeps for a tow out.
AA Roadwatch reported a number of minor crashes in the vicinity of the racecourse due to muddy road conditions while traffic was particularly heavy in the Punchestown area and in Naas town until around 1pm, as the car parks and camp sites emptied.
AA Roadwatch spokeswoman Nicola Hudson said traffic on all the main arteries out of Naas and its hinterland, including the M7 and the N81 flowed smoothly.
In the city centre, meanwhile worn-out festival-goers, who used the Dublin Bus shuttle service, began to make their appearance felt from 9am on with many discarding their brightly coloured wellingtons on the city streets in a sort of souvenir offering.
Despite the inclement weather, festival organisers, MCD have pronounced Oxegen 2007, which included performances by musical greats such as The Killers, Arcade Fire and Block Party, as well as The Gossip, Muse and Snow Patrol, a huge success.
"It was a success and we're already really looking forward to next year," said spokesman for MCD, Justin Green.
However, irate concert-goers rang RTÉ's Liveline yesterday afternoon to complain about lack of security in the campsites, theft and the failure of MCD to make provisions to deal with the mud.
Mr Green declined to comment.
Gardaí made 49 arrests over the course of the weekend, including 48 arrests for public order offences and one assault.
There were 320 drug seizures and 17 detentions under Section 15 of the Misuse of Drugs Act.
Supt Tom Neville, who was in charge of Garda operations at Oxegen over the weekend said he was happy that the security arrangements in place, which included a Garda office and a public order van in both campsites, were sufficient.
"We will investigate any complaints made, but I have not had complaints.
"I would ask the question, did these people report the incidents to gardaí?" said Supt Neville.
There were over 2,000 security guards at the festival, over 200 gardaí, 250 medics including doctors, a 24-hour hospital and first aid facilities, welfare officers and counsellors.
A spokeswoman for an Garda Síochána said that overall the force was happy with security at this year's festival.