Singing and dancing got under way in earnest on the streets of Kilkenny last night as thousands of local people turned out to celebrate the "Cats'" two-in-a-row All-Ireland Hurling Final victory.
Well before the jubilant senior and minor hurling teams arrived by train in the Marble City shortly after 6 p.m. the streets were awash with black and amber banners and bunting.
Gardaí hastily erected crash barriers as an estimated crowd of about 18,000 thronged the streets between the railway station and the town centre.
Whistles and fog horns sounded, and the crowd roared its appreciation as, smiling and waving, the victorious teams emerged from the station and boarded two open-topped double-decker buses.
Two bands, the Marble City and the Kilkenny and District Highland Bands, piped the buses down John Street, through the town and around to Market Square.
Local dignitaries, including TDs and councillors in ceremonial red robes, awaited the teams on a giant Guinness rig in the local supermarket car-park as Mr Richard Coady exhorted the crowds to "give yourselves a clap. You were brilliant. Fantastic. You were fantastic."
The crowds responded with roars of laughter as Mr Coady warned them to "check your belongings - not because someone would steal them - but because you might put something down and then pick it up again only for it to be gone".
Next to speak was the Mayor of Kilkenny, Mr Pat Crotty, who declared "yesterday was a great day to be a Kilkenny person in Dublin, and today is a great day to be a Kilkenny person in Kilkenny".
Soon it was time for the junior captain, Jim Power, to introduce the victorious Irish Press Cup team to thunderous applause.
By the time D.J. Carey, the captain of the winning McCarthy Cup team, appeared however, the noise of an aircraft circling overhead, coupled with the fog horns and whistles, made hearing impossible.
Earlier yesterday D.J. Carey had shown his mettle in the face of tabloid press reports at the weekend about the health of his marriage, when good-naturedly giving interviews and signing autographs for fans who were waiting outside the Burlington Hotel in Dublin.
"Have you enough?" he asked more than one photographer before agreeing to numerous media interviews.
Pressed about the weekend coverage, he commented: "I kept away from all that.
"Those people [the reporters\] have to live with it," he added. "Why they have to go around offering money for stories . . . It was a big intrusion. That is what they think their job is. Maybe they should look for a different job."
But he clearly did not want to dwell on the ugly side and posed for pictures with fans and signed the shirt of three-year-old Sean Holden from Graiguenamanagh.
He was enjoying his first All-Ireland experience with his father, who was enjoying his 28th All-Ireland, and his grandfather who had been enjoying All-Ireland finals since 1946.
While all this was happening, the rest of the teams were mingling with the crowds or sipping drinks.
As darkness fell in Kilkenny, most supporters were predicting another long night of celebrations, and organisers said it looked like the biggest turnout yet for a county used to hurling triumphs.
