A day of celebration in Dublin

We reached Dublin in early August on a day of unprecedented celebrations for Ireland. A day before, their women’s hockey team had managed to become runner’s up in the World Cup. It was no mean feat as they were dubbed as one of the worst teams, even as an amateur one, going into the tournament. They were ranked 16, the lowest among the competitors at the World Cup. But they surprised everyone as they progressed to the knockout stage and landed up in the finals. Though they lost out to the Dutch in the finals, they were in for a massive reception when they returned home.

We were walking along the Dame Street in Dublin when we landed up in the middle of this massive crowd, waiting in front of a makeshift stage, to receive their team. Young women, kids and old ones all lined up the entire stretch to cheer a team to which they did not pay much attention until a few weeks back. Unfortunately, we could not wait around for the team to arrive, as we had just a few hours left to explore Dublin. So, off we went, finding our way through the crowd, amid the chanting and cheering. Talk about being at the right place at the right time. Almost.