Sheeran shines in the sun as he wows the Cork crowd

CORK showed the world exactly what it is made of last night as it hosted the first of three Ed Sheeran concerts at the redeveloped Páirc Uí Chaoimh without a hiccup.

From early afternoon, the city streets were packed with clusters of girls and women, dressed in varied versions of ‘out-out’ attire as well as families and couples, young and old.

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.

Buskers were out in their droves, belting out Ed Sheeran classics and on Lapps Quay, people queued down the street for a so-called ‘Sheeran Shuttle’ which would take them down to the concert.

All along the route, crowds of people strolled in the sunshine making their way at leisure to Páirc Uí Chaoimh, many pausing for a drink or something to eat on the way.

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.

Speaking afterwards, Sergeant Peter Murphy, said the event had gone very well. “This was our first stab at a big event, we were lucky with the weather and everything else went according to plan.”

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.”