Football, celebrity tragedies and an absentee country western singer were the topics that got Irish people clicking in 2014, according to Google’s annual search rankings.
Last summer's World Cup in Brazil completed a clean sweep of top spots for both the top trending news stories and top trending searches of the year.
Irish people also searched for information on a number of celebrities including Robin Williams, Peaches Geldof, Michael Schumacher and Philip Seymour Hoffman, who occupied four out of the top 10 spots for trending searches over the past year.
A certain Garth Brooks also had his fans Googling to beat the band.
The summer’s concert fiasco propelled the American singer to top spot in most searched-for music artists, as well as a top 10 berth in trending searches and news stories.
Apart from raising much-needed funds for a most worthy cause, the ice bucket challenge phenomenon of 2014 also served to raise awareness of the Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis disease, which commanded the number one position for “what is?” searches.
The Cliffs of Moher was Ireland's most searched-for location, closely followed by Galway, while Kim Kardashian's trip to Ireland and subsequent magazine cover antics saw her annex the honour of being Ireland's top trending person.
The Irish seemingly cast romanticism aside in 2014 as “how to shift?” outranked the more conventional “how to kiss?” search, while the film Frozen maintained its mystic enchantment over young and old alike as it claimed the title of most searched-for movie.
Down from number one last year, UFC superstar Conor McGregor had another reasonable showing at number two for sports personalities. The Crumlin native trailed seven-time Formula One champion Michael Schumacher following the German's horrific skiing accident in December last year which left him fighting for his life, while Arsenal's maiden FA Cup triumph in nearly a decade shot the Gunners to top spot for sports teams.
Malaysia Airlines also caught users' attentions following a crisis-ridden year for the airline, which saw lose the Beijing-bound flight MH370 in March in mysterious circumstances before the shooting-down of flight MH17 over Ukraine in September, and the Ebola epidemic was also among the top trending searches.
