MOSTLY HURLING:An appreciation for a weekend packed full of sporting and cultural significance, writes JOHN ALLEN

AND THEN there were four. The senior intercounty hurling season has ended for the rest and as there aren't any games this weekend, there's a chance to stray off the mark this Friday and justify the "mostly" title on the column.

During a summer which, in weather terms, has hit a bit of an occluded front, and (staying in the same stratosphere), there have been many highlights. What a wonderful country we have on so many levels.

The Willie Clancy traditional music week in Miltown Malbay every July attracts Irish music and dance enthusiasts from all over the world to the west Clare town for a week of high end music. On the Wednesday night, the world-famous Kilfenora Céilí band supplied the music for the set dancers in the Marquee. Late in the evening, what resembled a flash mob mentality overtook the packed venue. There was, what could only be described as a spontaneous round of heartfelt applause for the band half-way through a set.

This wasn't your mannerly clap for the band at the end of the dance. This show of respect came from deep within the assembled dancers, for, arguably, a peerless group of musicians carrying on a tradition purely for the love of it.

The next night the equally talented and legendary Tulla Céilí Band were on stage. They were, on the night, augmented by an old boy who just happened to be in town. Top fiddler Martin Hayes, from the same parish, joined his old friends for the night. However, the virtuoso musician was persuaded to provide an interlude for the sweaty dancers, which he did. The applause equalled the previous night's. Respect for greatness in a country rich in it.

It was the Sunday of the Munster Hurling final. The atmosphere in Semple Stadium was electric as the Artane School of Music band (the Artane Boys' Band to you and me) struck up and the parade began. As they passed by this very biased Cork section in the new stand in Thurles, the people rose to their feet in an extrinsic show of worship and loyalty to their heroes in red. Respect for the amateur, highly skilled sportsmen providing the spectacle.

Time was running out for Waterford that same evening, as the sliotar ricocheted out from the Cork goal line barricade. Up stepped the hero of 19 championships, Tony Browne, to usher the ball back in and over the line. Draw match. The Waterford crowd erupted. Much respect for the ever-present Déise half back.

It was damp as we took our place in the Old Stand for the Saturday evening replay. This time we sat among the enemy. The reaction was very similar as the band rounded to head down the final straight before the sliotar was thrown in. Respects for their heroes who they hoped were going to light up the Saturday evening gloom for their faithful supporters.

The teams couldn't be separated. The extra- time was ebbing to an end. The affable Dan "The Man" Shanahan, whose goal line awareness is set to millimetres, is about to do it again. In milliseconds, as he gathers the sliotar, he sees a gap to the left of Donal Óg Cusack in the Cork goal. The rest is history. Dan is a hero again. Respect for the nice guy.

It was Friday night in the capital. The queue for returned tickets to see the sold-out Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, in the Gate Theatre is backing up the right-hand side of the stairs.

The 73-year-old American actor Harris Yulin as Willy Loman (on stage almost all of the time) gave a performance that was magnificent. Deirdre Donnelly as Linda Loman was equally good. After a two and a half hour show the audience stood and clapped, not out of courtesy but with an intensity that reflected the appreciation for greatness that was felt throughout the auditorium; another Irish show of respect for high achievement from a different stratum of society.

It was Sunday. A hurling thriller was taking place before our eyes in the super stadium that is Croke Park. Neighbours Galway and Tipperary were in opposition. Lar Corbett, Eoin Kelly and Éanna Ryan, with three wonder points were heralding great things to come. The game thundered through the next 70 minutes in a high-scoring, spectacular, aggressive, invigorating, engaging, tough, athletic fashion to a finish the fat lady hardly wanted. But before she sang, one of the great hurling corner backs of our time, Ollie Canning, had to leave the action. As he made his way to the dugout, the appreciative fans in our area stood to applaud the heroics he had once again performed in his maroon shirt. Respect for their hero.

The greatness is all around us. It's in our sport, our music, our literature, our language, our food, our scenery and our people. Our recent tryst with financial madness, as we now realise, ended up in economic ruin for many.

So it's time to appreciate what we have all around us and so much of it for free. Simplicity should become the aspiration. So much of the time we're bypassing jewels on the way to banality.

So whether it's Spraoi in Waterford, the Galway Races, The Irish Open Golf Championship, The Yeats Summer School, The Ballyshannon Music Festival, a stroll along the prom in Lahinch or the feast of football in Croke Park this weekend, there's plenty to keep us entertained at home.

Respect for Ireland.

P.S: Just as Irish writers Emma Donoghue and Paul Murray have been included on this year's Man Booker Prize long list, my name has made it to the long list for the vacant Limerick hurling manager's position.

But unlike the writers, and while it is an honour to be nominated, I won't be participating further in that particular contest.

"A hurling thriller was taking place before our eyes. The game thundered through the next seventy minutes to a finish that the fat lady hardly wanted