THE FOUR captains of last year’s senior GAA cup championship winning sides will jointly marshal the St Patrick’s Day parade in Dublin later this month. Their selection is to mark the 125th year since the formation of the GAA.
Tyrone football captain Brian Dooher, Kilkenny hurling captain Henry Shefflin, Cork football captain Angela Walsh and Cork camogie captain Cathriona Foley, with the four cups, will lead the procession through the capital on March 17th, organisers said yesterday.
More than 500,000 people are expected to attend the culmination of this year’s six-day festival which will also include a specially-commissioned GAA pageant, entitled Monumental Moments.
GAA president Nickey Brennan said: “It is an honour and is fitting as part of our 125 years celebrations. Our role in promoting Gaelic games, Irish culture and a sense of identity and place in each community will be shown to a worldwide audience and we are very proud to be part of this celebration.”
Donal Shiels, chief executive of the St Patrick’s Festival, said the role the GAA has played in Irish society for the past 125 years is immeasurable and “one that we are thrilled to be able to celebrate through the grand marshals in the parade”.
This year’s festival runs from March 12th-17th, and up to 4,000 performers and a million people are expected to participate in music, street theatre, carnivals, comedy, street performances and treasure hunts.
The Skyfest fireworks display will be held along the banks of the river Suir in Waterford city on March 14th.
Last year the pyrotechnic event, which has become a festival favourite, was transferred out of the capital for the first time to the Rock of Cashel in Co Tipperary.
