A round-up of gigs, festivals and games to keep you busy right through the weekend.
Garry McMahon Singing Weekend, Limerick
Christmas is but a matter of weeks away and for many the festive season will bring with it more than one boisterous sing-song, so it’s time to start getting your voice in gear.
Visitors to the Gerry McMahon Singing Weekend in Abbeyfeale, Co Limerick can attend workshops on the art of composing and singing ballads under the stewardship of Cork’s legendary Dick Bemish. There’s also a “perpetual trophy” on offer for the best original ballad.
The Ramble Inn & Leens's Hotel Abbeyfeale, Co Limerick
julieanncurtin@gmail.com
Oireachtas na Samhna 2012, Donegal
The annual Irish-language jamboree that is Oireachtas na Samhna rolled into Letterkenny, Co Donegal, this week. The five-day battle of the gaelgeoirs comes to an end this weekend and is featuring competitions in Sean-Nós singing and dancing, storytelling, Agallamh Beirte (the ancient Irish art of dialogue in verse); Lúibíní (a witty dialogue in song) and much more.
antoireachtas.ie
Wexford Festival Opera, Wexford
“One of the best small festivals in the world,” as the Frommers Guide would have it, the 2012 Wexford Festival Opera reaches its finale this weekend with a performance of Frederick Delius’s Romeo and Juliet.
Delius’s interpretation should strike a chord with modern Irish audiences: Sali and Vreli, his Romeo and Juliet, are the children of farmers who are at loggerheads over the ownership of a worthless piece of land that by rights should belong to a man known as the Dark Fiddler.
wexfordopera.com
FAI Cup Final, Dublin
Aviva Stadium hosts the FAI Cup Final this Sunday, when Derry City meet St Patrick's Athletic in what will be a repeat of the 2006 final. Derry captain Kevin Deery would love to end a challenging season on a high by lifting the FAI Cup, but St Pat's won’t give it to him easily.
fai.ie
Match for Michaela, Belfast
This once-off fundraising game between Donegal and a composite Ulster team for the foundation set up in memory of Tyrone manager Mickey Hart’s late daughter is expected to attract a near capacity crowd to Belfast’s Casement Park. The occasion will have little to do with football, and the result certainly won’t be important but it will give spectators the opportunity to see Harte patrol the sideline with one of his former chief rivals, Joe Kernan.
Gates at Casement Park open at 5pm tomorrow, with entertainment starting at 6pm and match throw-in at 7.15pm (also live on TG4).