Home after a long day in Dublin... It was lovely to take a group of Central pupils along with our friends in Mount St Michael's PS to see Ireland play Fiji in the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. We met at 2pm and headed down to Dublin, stopping at an applegreen for the obligatory toilet break before we arrived at the Stadium. The trip into the 'sold out' stadium was not for the faint hearted...with over 50,000 other people trying to find their seats along with our group of 36. However, the children couldn't have been better behaved,,,or more sensible, listening to every request to 'stay to the side' or 'stop' whilst we counted them for the hundredth time!!!!!! Seats found...in the highest portion of the ground (level 5)...we arrived, just in time. to hear the anthems and we settled down to a fascinating match. The match was punctuated by half time and another military operation of taking all the children to the toilets......counting them 50 times in the process! A nail-biting second half followed with Ireland the deserved winners...although the score line of 23:20 didn't reflect the impact of the Irish substitutes and a sensational Cian Healy try for Ireland....that was disallowed!!!!!!!!! Back on the bus.....after 100 more counts to make sure we had all our children.....we headed up the road to the first applegreen for a much needed burger.................An hour of waiting in line later.......we were all fed and watered,,,,and settled into the long trip home. We arrived back in Randalstown....not long before midnight....exhausted,,,but happy about our shared trip to Dublin. Thanks to Mr Lavery for all his organisational skills...to the parents and helpers who made the trip possible....and on a personal note, a very big thank you to Andy and Ciara and Evelyn who showed great understanding with a few last minute problems we had in the run-up to the trip...and who helped to make it a great event for all involved. I'm too tired to think of next year, right now.....but this was a 'must' repeat event ! We have an Inspector coming to visit both schools next week to talk about our Shared Experiences..........and I am sure this event will be talked about at length!
