Last summer, my family scrambled for tickets for the All-Ireland hurling final against Clare - not for Croke Park, but for the family fanzone area in Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

We got a taste of what it might be like to be a Taylor Swift fan, poised at a laptop to snap up gold dust tickets.

Fanzone tickets sold out last year in minutes, much to the dismay of my kids, but we managed to secure three tickets from friends and my husband did the time-honoured tradition of holding a homemade ‘Looking for a ticket’ sign.

It was like standing outside the Gresham Hotel in Dublin, vainly hoping the ticket angels will bless you, except here he was handed a spare, free one within seconds. Things were going our way - would it continue with a favourable result?

Alas, no.

Last summer, we traipsed out of the stadium in the rain, withered, with two crying disappointed children. Misery.

We hoped this year was going to be different. That the overwrought tears caused by losing by just a point after extra-time would be replaced by life-long memories of victory.

Sadly, it wasn’t to be last Sunday.

The best thing about Cork doing well in the hurling is not just the joy of watching sporting wizards for 70 minutes, it’s the bolt of happiness at seeing red and white flags strung from houses, the homemade signs by kids in windows, the enormous flag erected over Tramore Valley Park.

The sight of flags fluttering from bridges, balconies and box bedrooms was giving me........

© Evening Echo