Sheeran shines in the sun as he wows the Cork crowd

The shops were busy, the restaurants were thronged and pubs and bars were packed out the door as the sun shone on the rebel county.

There was an electric atmosphere among Corkonians and visitors, who were all on high alert for the unlikely event of an Ed Sheeran sighting.

Along Centre Park Road, fast food outlets had set up shop, as well as merchants selling everything and anything to do with Ed Sheeran, including pink cowboy hats, flower crowns and ‘You’ll never beat the Irish’ Ireland flags.

Entry to the stadium was split up into three routes, red, yellow and blue and this kept the crowds at manageable levels.

Sergeant Murphy said they may be tweaking the protocol for the next two nights to ensure optimum management of the event.

“The stadium emptied very quickly, which resulted in a lot of people hitting town at the same time. This is something we will look at. Other than that, it is so far so good. There have been no major public order incidents and no arrests.”