"Wanted. Old friend of Kilkenny needs lift home from Dublin. Any time after 5pm. Please contact Liam McCarthy."
So read a message on the local KCLR radio in Kilkenny yesterday morning. There was no shortage of volunteers to carry the Liam McCarthy Cup home last night.
Hundreds of Kilkenny fans stopped off at the Citywest hotel on the Naas Road near Dublin to attend a post-match banquet with the team organised by the Supporter's Club. But most returned to celebrate on "home ground".
This evening, the team will arrive from Dublin at Kilkenny's MacDonagh Station at about 6.15pm and will travel through the city streets on an open-top bus to an open-air reception where they will be met by Mayor Martin Brett. Some 25,000 people are expected.
From early yesterday, thousands of black and amber-draped cars streamed out of Co Kilkenny heading for Dublin. Street vendors sold flags and foam "thumbs-up" signs. Outside Kilkenny Castle at 11.40am, and "cutting it a bit fine" according to a bystander, a group of eight young people left in a white "stretch" limousine. They had paid €600 - €75 per head in addition to €60 match tickets - to travel "in style". Among them was Gabi Zebronska from Poland "going to watch Irish culture" with her Kilkenny pals.
Eleven miles to the south, Ballyhale, home to two of Kilkenny's star players - Henry Shefflin and James "Cha" Fitzpatrick - was a deserted village by lunchtime. Many of those who could not get tickets gathered in the two pubs.
At "Andy's" everyone stood to attention for the national anthem and within seconds there was a huge cheer for Kilkenny's first score by local hero Shefflin.
Paul Walsh, who could not get a ticket to the match, described him as "a quiet chap with no big head about him". Kilkenny's first-half goal and lead at half-time steadied nerves.
Down the street, there was standing room only where a younger crowd had gathered at "Sheff's", a pub formerly owned by the Shefflin family and where the player was "born and reared". During the second-half, proprietor Bobby Aylward, himself a former hurler, dispensed drinks wearing a striped Kilkenny jersey. There was huge support for "Cha", described as "a great player for a small lad".
At the 62nd minute someone commented "Kilkenny have it won now, without a doubt" and despite the shock of the Cork goal five minutes later, they had. At the final whistle, a shout went up: "Free drinks for the night Bobby" but he was having none of it. Henry Shefflin might have just helped to win the All-Ireland Final, but Bobby pointed out that he had not yet won a county final with his club Ballyhale Shamrocks.
A quick straw poll found that the people of Ballyhale voted Aidan Fogarty (Kilkenny's goal scorer) first-half man of the match, "Cha" the hero of the second half, and Henry Shefflin "hurler of the year". Last night the streets of Kilkenny city were filled with jubilant fans.
