Hope and history rhyme for Prince Charles' visit

THE sight of Britain’s Prince Charles wielding a hurley and striking a sliothar into the back of the net would have been unimaginable a few short years ago. 

But that was the joyful scene that greeted thousands of onlookers yesterday in the grounds of Kilkenny Castle when he and his wife, Camilla, visited the city, the first by a British royal since 1904.

Lucky for him that he had the coaching talents of Kilkenny hurling manager Brian Cody and All-star Henry Shefflin to hand. Lucky for us and for Anglo-Irish relations that the prince is even more sure-footed as a roving ambassador than he is as a hurler.