This year's King Puck was brought down from the Kerry mountains yesterday at dawn. The animal will preside over a three-day festival and fair in Killorglin, beginning this Thursday.
The roots of the festival are thought to be extremely ancient and may go back even to a goat cult common in Ireland before the arrival of the Tuatha de Danaan and the Milesians.
A team of six men under the direction of the chief goat-catcher, Mr Frank Joy, captured the male goat in a dramatic cliff-edge chase high above Dingle Bay. Mr Joy described it as "one of the most spectacular settings yet" for the annual capture of the goat.
Mr Joy had watched the puck over a number of months as it grazed in the vicinity of Danny Tim O'Sullivan's farm at Gleesk, near the old railway viaduct.
"We had a tough job of it. He's clean wild," Mr Joy said of the brown goat, which is about six or seven years old.
The animal had to be separated from a herd of nine others, including young pucks.
The millennium puck does not have the spectacular 42-inch horn span of last year's king, "but he's a good size, with a good average pair of horns," Mr Joy said.
Puck will be crowned on Thursday, Gathering Day, by this year's Queen, Sarah-Jane Joy (13), from Killorglin.
Mr Frank Joy has been chief goat-catcher for the fair for over a decade. During the three-day festival he will scale the 50-foot stand to bring King Puck food, water and the "choicest of herbs" twice - and sometimes three times - a day.
The dawn chase took just over two hours and included Mr John Griffin from Mountain Stage, Mr John Shine Griffin from Glenbeigh, Mr Patrick Clifford from Mountain Stage, Mr Jack O'Shea from Glenbeigh and Mr Francis Joy, also from Glenbeigh, the son of the chief goat-catcher.
The goat will be housed in a large metal cage, "with plenty of room to stand up and walk around", according to the festival committee chairman, Mr Declan Mangan. This is the third year that the purpose-built goat-friendly cage has been used.
The festival includes music, a funfair, a horse and cattle fair and a fireworks display. Record crowds are expected as it takes place this year over a weekend.