Model county greets return of hurling victors

IF MARTIN Storey or Liam Griffin went into politics they would conquer Wexford and Wicklow, for the garden county adopted the [purple and gold colours for the slow triumphant return home of the hurling heroes, led by the captain and manager.

Bonfires blazed in nearly every village and town in Wexford, and, from every pub and stage Dancing. at the Crossroads blasted out, the song naming each player in the victorious 1996 All Ireland hurling championship team. Virtually all Wexford went to sleep humming that tune.

The party began when the final whistle blew on Sunday marking a 1-13 to 14 points win for Wexford over Limerick and continued into the early hours of this morning.

Advance parties of bunting draped cars roared through villages, and flag waving children cheered every time drivers blared horns.

In Gorey, home of Eamonn Scallan, Ger Cush and Billy Byrne, Main Street was closed off and became a sea of people in purple and gold. Estimates put the numbers at some 20,000, from the very young to the very old, who began arriving three hours before their heroes.

A tractor, a pick up truck and some cars were painted purple and gold with messages like "Storey brought us glory" and team members' names scrawled all over. A pub on Main Street had a bicycle hanging out a window with the message "On yer bike, Limerick".

Arthur Quinlan in Limerick adds: The defeated Limerick hurling team were overwhelmed by the reception given to them by a crowd of over 10,000 supporters last evening. For more than an hour before the train arrived from Dublin, a huge crowd had gathered outside Colbert station.

The mayor, Mr Kieran O'Hanlon, welcomed the team: "You, the team, can hold your heads high - we are proud of you." Former mayor Mr Jim Kemmy TD said: "We were very disappointed. I thought they had enough fighting spirit for victory . . . It is a bitter pill to swallow as our hopes and expectations were built high, but we must be magnanimous and philosophical in defeat as in victory."