Rebels, Cats expect no picnic this weekend

Thousands of sports and music fans are on the move this weekend with GAA All-Ireland finals and Electric Picnic the main draws…

Thousands of sports and music fans are on the move this weekend with GAA All-Ireland finals and Electric Picnic the main draws.

GAA supporters will be heading to Croke Park on Sunday for the All-Ireland hurling final on Sunday, with Cork going up against Kilkenny in the Senior Hurling Final at 3.30pm, and Galway facing Tipperary in the Minor Hurling Final, which gets under way at 1.30pm.

Elsewhere, thousands of music fans are expected at Stradbally in Co Laois for the Electric Picnic music festival. Acts will take to the stage from 6pm today, and long delays are expected on key routes approaching Stradbally.

The main routes expected to be badly affected will be the N7/M7 southbound from Kildare and Dublin, and the N7 from Limerick and Roscrea. Traffic on the N8 is particularly heavy northbound from Cork, with traffic heading into Abbeyleix from Cork are experiencing delays of at least 25 minutes.

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Festival-goers travelling through Co Kilkenny should steer clear of the N9 through Thomastown, where roadworks and road closures are in place.

Bus Éireann is providing special coach services to Electric Picnic from Dublin and Galway.

Other events over the weekend that could cause some traffic delays include racing in Tralee today and in Killarney on Sunday.

The Midleton Festival and Food Fair takes place in Cork on Saturday and Sunday; as a result, the main street will be closed to traffic from 9am to 6pm on Saturday and 10am to 6.30pm on Sunday.