Ground spotting in Ireland, Geek alert.

I'm back in Edinburgh after a wonderful couple of weeks visiting family and friends in Ireland, although I failed miserably in my quest for WiFi hotspots. To be fair I located a few in the various towns we visited but I doubt that any ideas I had of ditching the family in favour of a quick blog post would have been well received.

I did manage to occasionally sneak away to take photographs of a few sports grounds and I managed to make it along to Portadown's Europa league ties v Skonto (which I'll talk about in a separate post) so Ican't complain.

I've decided to post the sports related photos up on the blog with a description for each..... Humour me.

Main entrance to Shamrock Park, Portadown.

Portadown and Skonto line up pre match.

Naomh Connail GAA club, Glenties, Co Donegal.

Score board at Naomh Connail, Glenties

Naomh Connail in the sun from a distance.

Outside main stand at Finn Park (Finn Harps FC), Ballybofey, Co Donegal.

Away terrace at Finn Park, Ballybofey.

Main stand at Finn Park, Ballybofey.

Main gates at Sean MacCumhail Park, Ballybofey (home of Donegal GAA).

Inside Sean MacCumhail Park, Ballybofey (they'd left a gate open).

Terracing at Sean MacCumhail Park, Ballybofey.

Sean MacCumhail CLG social club at the ground.

Na Rosa, GAA club (in the distance), Co Donegal.  I Wouldn't fancy playing there against the wind!

Whilst I was in Northern Ireland I had grand ideas of heading to Belfast for a day and taking photos of the various sporting themed murals which are cropping up in both nationalist and unionist areas, replacing the paramilitary murals.  Sadly I just didn't get time.  It's positive that Northern Ireland's tradition of mural painting is continuing but in a more inclusive and peaceful manner.

Here are two from Belfast, one of which I saw but didn't managed photograph so I obtained it through Google images (the Alex Higgins tribute).

Tribute to former snooker World Champion Alex Higgins.

A mural in celebration of Northern Ireland 1-0 victory over England in 2005.

George Best mural outside Windsor Park (taken by The Bruce at the Linfield v Rosenborg match).

I was hoping to drive through the Bogside area of Derry on our way to County Donegal in the Republic, as they have a few sporting murals dedicated to Glasgow Celtic, Derry GAA and Derry City FC.  Again I just couldn't fit it in.  There's always next time!