Ireland is a sport-mad nation, albeit that our achievements may slightly lag behind our ambitions!

The national sports of Ireland are Gaelic Football and Hurling. There are thousands of clubs throughout the country, progressing on to county championships and culminating in the All-ireland Finals at Croke Park, a very impressive stadium in Dublin that can accommodate approximately 74,000 spectators.

Despite Ireland`s relatively high profile in the rugby world, rugby is played by relatively few people (approx 25,000 registered players). It is however very strong in the South Dublin area where many of the private schools are located.

Whilst soccer was always popular, it has experienced a boom since Ireland`s success in reaching the World Cup finals in the 1990`s. However, the national infrastructure is still quite weak and all successful Irish players play abroad, mostly in the English premiership. Everyone in Ireland supports an English soccer club and Celtic!

Golf is simply huge in Ireland. Everyone plays it and Ireland boasts some of the best gold courses in the World. Portmarnock Golf Club, The K Club, The European Club are all within a short drive of Dublin city centre.