TODAY the whole of Ireland will be celebrating Saint Patrick's Day, and their hockey team will be banking on the luck of the Irish to make the Bank Holiday a memorable outing as well.With South Korea virtually in the final, unless they do the impossible and lose to Russia, Malaysia and Ireland will be lining up for the second ticket, or pick up the crumbs when the dust settles at the University College Grounds in Dublin.
The Irish started celebrating last weekend itself when their rugby players beat Scotland in a Six Nations match at the Aviva Stadium, and the taps have yet to stop pouring to satisfy the merry makers.
And there is no shortage of entertainment outlets here in Dublin, as every shopping district has more than five outlets and they have their pints very early here.
Green is the colour of the Irish, and the celebrations today will paint the town green, so to speak, as revellers pour onto the streets for parades and the must-have pint of black gold in a chilled mug famous the world over.
The cold pebbled streets in Dublin, especially around the Temple Bar area, were already feeling the heat and weight of a celebrating crowd on Thursday and Friday nights, and none will be left out of the merrymaking this weekend.
But the early indications are that our national players would break the hearts of the Irish, the second most friendliest people in the world after Malaysians, on the most important day of their lives.
And they would not need the Irish luck.
