MICHAEL: Hello and welcome to Ireland with Michael.

I'm Michael Londra and in this show, I get to tell you everything I love about my home country the best way I know how, through music.

Today, we venture to Northern Ireland, where sports aren't just played, they're woven into the landscape itself.

Brace yourself for the island's national pastime.

It's the fast-paced thrill of a sport you've never heard of, hurling.

Then, we hit a byway down a country lane for Irish road bowling, a sport where strategy meets sheer power.

And after the action, what better way to celebrate than with a nice cold cider?

We'll go a little deeper and learn the craft of cidermaking, where patience, passion, and a keen eye for quality turn apples into liquid gold.

Whether you're swinging a hurl, launching a cannonball, or sipping the fruits of victory, we'll combine skill, tradition, and Irish soul for our journey into a past that really hasn't changed much at all.

In fact, it's as alive and well today as it was for our great-great-grandparents.

♪ ♪ ANNOUNCER: Ireland with Michael is made possible by- ♪ ANNOUNCER: The music, the folklore, and the hospitality.

It's all in Ireland.

ANNOUNCER: Since 1932, CIE Tours has welcomed travelers to discover Ireland's rolling green landscapes, cherished traditions, and Irish hospitality, creating memories that last a lifetime.

CIE Tours, where every journey becomes a story.

♪ MICHAEL: Navan Fort is one of the royal sites of pre-Christian Gaelic Ireland, and the history is reimagined here at the Navan Centre.

The earliest signs of society began in this region as far back as 5500 BC.

As explained here at the center, Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, chose to build his cathedral at the twin pagan site of Ard Mhacha near here in 445 AD.

Centuries of history in and around Armagh is why this is one of Ireland's most important historical regions.

♪ Carolyn, we're a couple of minutes just outside lovely Armagh town.

CAROLYN: Yes, Ard Mhacha.

MICHAEL: And we are in Navan Fort.

So, what do we know about the people that lived here and surrounded this fort, and exactly when did they live here?

CAROLYN: The time of most activity on the hill, as far as we know from the archaeology, we say is 95 BC, and that's when this structure was uncovered to be dated to.

But the rest, we now know that they seem to have used the place for hundreds and hundreds of years.

MICHAEL: You hinted earlier to me that the women ran this place.

Is that the case?

CAROLYN: Well, they- they didn't exactly run it, but they were equal.

They were equal.

There were laws for absolutely everything.

Every aspect of life was covered with a law, and they were equal to men and women.

The only thing a woman could not in a court with a brehon, who was a druid but a lawyer, would be to give a witness against her father.

Could against her husband, but not against her father.

And the only law that we know of which is just for women and it's not for both sexes, it's just for the women.

And that is, if she wants to divorce her husband, if on the day of his marriage his belt doesn't fit him anymore, the belt that he wore on the day of his marriage no longer fits him, she can get rid of him.

But it's to do with survival.

If the man isn't working hard enough, if he's eating more than his fair share, then he needs to, you know, to go.

MICHAEL: So, in your excavations of here, you learned an awful lot about what was buried-in under there.

Can you tell me more about that?

CAROLYN: First thing they found when they took the soil away was 2.3 meters of limestone.

The limestone didn't come from this region, which it could have done, it came from across Ireland, distances of a hundred miles or more.

And they have carried pieces of their land and placed it inside the structure.

And some of it's so big, two people would have had to carry it.

MICHAEL: Do we know the reason for that?

CAROLYN: Because of the amount of people who must have been working here, and that they brought the limestone from across Ulster, he calls it a unifying project for the clans of Ulster, that they had to be represented and they had to come and work here.

♪ MICHAEL: It's also here, near Fort Navan, where myth and legend meet.

The most famous tale is about Macha.

This engaging story begins with an inebriated husband announcing to the King of Ulster that his wife Macha could outrun the king's royal horses.

The added twist?

She's pregnant and almost ready to give birth.

Now, Macha wants to save face for her husband, so she reluctantly runs the race.

Much to everyone's surprise, she wins and then falls down and immediately goes into labor, giving birth to twins.

And that's where this legend takes a fascinating turn.

CAROLYN: At the end of her race, exhausted, she gave birth to twins, who were born dead.

She screamed a curse on the men of Ulster, that in their greatest time of need, they would suffer the pains and weakness of childbirth.

And this was proven whenever Queen Medb of Connacht came against Ulster, and the men of Ulster lost all their strength.

ANNOUNCER: And the Cats are once again the champions.

Champions for the 36th... MICHAEL: From the battlefield to Ireland's national sport?

When you think of Ireland's national sport, you probably might go with football or rugby, but you'd be wrong.

There's a 3,000- year-old sport that everybody in this country loves, and that game is hurling.

It's a cross between lacrosse and hockey.

The fastest field sport in the world, only it's a lot more dangerous.

It involves this hurl and this ball.

I was really, really bad at it, but there isn't a child in this country who does not want to be a big star playing the hurling.

ANNOUNCER: And anything can happen, and it does!

MICHAEL: So, when you come to Navan Fort as a tourist, are you telling me that you're going to teach me how to play hurling?

MATTHEW: Well, I will teach you what we would do in the traditional sense.

So of course, of course I would get you to start off doing your swings back and forth... MICHAEL: Oh, yeah.

MATTHEW: Because I would need to make sure you know how to do a good swing.

MICHAEL: Yeah.

MATTHEW: I would also need to test, if we're going to do it properly.

MICHAEL: See, that's how good I was.

I love hurling.

However, I was the worst hurler in the history of Ireland.

Now you've a historical perspective on this, our national game.

MATTHEW: So, we actually don't know how far back hurley, or hurling, goes.

We just know it's been around for as long as we've been around for.

In the traditional in our Celtic society, you played it on your own because it was meant to help strengthen you and build you up for a warrior.

So this would have been, say, the first weapon you would have held.

If you can swing this all day, then, eventually, you'll move up to swinging this all day, because it works on the same motions.

♪ MICHAEL: One thing you'll find here, especially in counties Cork and Armagh, are lonely-yet- beautiful byways, which, it turns out, is the perfect setting for an ancient game still played today that requires this.

It only weighs about one- and-three-quarter pounds, but by the end of the game, it'll feel much heavier.

That's because it involves tossing this cannonball-like hunk of metal as far as you can.

The goal?

Launching it at a greater distance than your competitor for the next one to two miles.

After a while, it can be exhausting, which is why sometimes this is best played as a team sport.

You can switch on and off with who bowls the ball.

♪ Aaron, these things are heavy.

AARON: 28 ounces.

MICHAEL: So, what is the tip to throwing this as far down the road as possible?

AARON: Tip is don't try to throw it too hard, just try to get it on the road.

So, basically, hold your ball with your four fingers on the bottom... MICHAEL: Yeah?

AARON: And your thumb on top.

MICHAEL: Oh, yeah.

AARON: So your thumb holds it in position.

MICHAEL: Oh, yeah, okay.

AARON: And then just straight through.

MICHAEL: All right, so it's a straight-through motion.

So from back, and then it comes around, and you let it go when it's straight ahead of you.

AARON: Release about there, yeah.

MICHAEL: Oh, yeah, okay.

Do you always have to run at it?

AARON: You don't always have to run, no.

MICHAEL: Oh.

AARON: So it's just my... MICHAEL: That's your style is to run.

AARON: That's my style, yeah.

MICHAEL: Well, if it's okay with you, I'm 60 years old, I'm not going to run.

AARON: No bother.

MICHAEL: But I'll- I'll give it a shot then.

AARON: Yeah.

MICHAEL: All right, here we go.

(ball thuds and rolls) Guys, can you fix it in editing?

Ancient sports give way to the most modern of music.

CLADA takes electronic dance music, or EDM, and adds a twist, calling it IDM, Irish dance music.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ I was watching ye play earlier and I had never seen you live, and the first thing that I realized when I watched you play is your passion for the music itself.

It- it elevates you, and I can see that, so audiences are going to connect to that.

SAM: Yeah, we feed off the energy of the crowd.

If the crowd are having a good time, we're having a great time.

MICHAEL: So, people who come to your gigs, they think they're coming to- they probably think they're coming to an EDM concert, do they?

Is there Irish- are they Irish dancing to it or are they- or do they think they're at a club, or is it a bit of both?

SAM: It's a bit of both.

You know, we try to give a bit of versatility in the gig, and you can Irish dance and you can definitely do a lot more dancing with it as well.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ MICHAEL: So, let's talk about where ye came from and how traditional music of all different kinds can come into one room.

You're all influenced by different things, I suppose.

What's your background?

SAM: My background would have been, I'm from Connemara and deep roots in the Irish traditional music, Ceoltóirí, et cetera.

And then I met Eoin over here, the bass player, and his roots are Radiohead and all these different other bands.

Then we have Sam Purcell on drums, who is an absolutely fantastic jazz drummer, as well.

And then we have the virtuosity herself, Orla Leavy, absolutely takes the reins away on the fiddle.

And this lad, (laughs) we've had him keep his feet on the floor sometimes.

MICHAEL: There's always a mad one.

And I've been watching this fella play the box and he truly is a remarkable musician.

But more than that, you are having a good time.

(Sam laughs) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ MICHAEL: Northern Ireland is on the same latitude as southern Alaska.

But the weather here is moderated by the Gulf Stream, and that, it turns out, makes for a perfect climate to grow apples.

If you were to take Ireland's yearly harvest of apples, you could bake about 15 million apple pies.

But my Irish friends have a different choice, cider, or what you call hard cider in the United States.

The Bramley varietal, adding with other apples, is the secret ingredient to the complex taste that is Irish cider.

(apple crunches) (wind blows) Oh, yeah.

Catherine, I've been here in Long Meadow Farm for a couple of hours now, and this is the part I've been looking forward to, the tasting.

CATHERINE: Ye have a thirst on you, have ye?

MICHAEL: I have, yeah, yeah.

It's your fault.

So, look, there's traditional ciders, but you've done really cool things with all your traditional ciders.

And it's like- it's like being at a vineyard, where you taste various different types of wine.

So, let's start with what you've got here.

Is this your kind of core product?

CATHERINE: Yeah.

So, this would be the traditional cider, this one here.

So that's our medium one, which was- would be more crisp, it would be more refreshing.

Sixty percent of the Bramley apple.

So the Bramley apple that you bit into... MICHAEL: Yeah?

CATHERINE: Beautiful, lovely, crisp, fresh taste.

MICHAEL: Yeah.

CATHERINE: Full of juice.

That's what you're getting in this particular cider here.

MICHAEL: Okay.

CATHERINE: So, is the mouth watering already?

MICHAEL: Are you going to open it or not?

CATHERINE: (laughs) Or you going to talk all day, woman?

(Michael laughs) (cider pours) MICHAEL: You're right.

It does look like a champagne, doesn't it?

CATHERINE: Yeah, it's lovely and clear, you know, and that's the freshness, the crispness of that apple that's coming through there.

MICHAEL: Will we try the rhubarb?

CATHERINE: You're going to love this one now.

MICHAEL: Give it a shot.

CATHERINE: You're going to love it, Michael.

And the color.

Wait till you see the color of this one now.

It's absolutely glorious.

Now, this one's hard to beat.

(cider pours) MICHAEL: Oh, look at that.

Plenty.

That's- that's gorgeous.

CATHERINE: And it's lighter, 3.4%, so it's a lot lighter.

It's a lot easier to drink.

MICHAEL: Let me tell you.

CATHERINE: It's very dangerous.

Very dangerous.

MICHAEL: It is so good.

CATHERINE: Yeah.

♪ MICHAEL: I'm in County Fermanagh on the River Erne, and, thankfully, one of our crew is a member of the Royal National Lifeboat Institute, should I need the rescue.

So, onward.

We are taking to the water to travel back in history to what the ruling Gaelic Maguire clan started to build here nearly 600 years ago, the Enniskillen Castle.

We'll paddle about as my ancestors used to.

Then, it was called a currach.

Modernized today, we call it a kayak.

Come along with me as we take the challenge to make it downriver to the castle.

♪ Trevor, we're in one of my favorite towns in the whole country.

I was just thinking that this is one of the towns I'd love to live in because we're surrounded by water.

And you are the water expert in the town of Enniskillen.

Why is water so important here?

TREVOR: Yeah, so, the water is really the motorway really of Fermanagh.

Back in the day, this is- the main hub of transport would have been along the River Erne.

MICHAEL: Let's say I have some athletic skill.

Okay, I- I can feel the crew laughing right now.

But if I'm able to do this and I'm able to kind of cover some mileage, you have a trail that you can offer to people.

TREVOR: What you have is a series of castles and monastic sites and churches that run the length of Lough Erne.

So you're probably talking maybe over 70 miles of trail and that you can go and visit these ancient sites.

MICHAEL: People have different abilities.

Are you able to offer services to people who have disabilities and take those people out on the water, too?

TREVOR: Yes, indeed.

We welcome people of all abilities, and we can take people with disabilities.

We even actually have a hoist, should they need, that can get into the boat.

MICHAEL: Fantastic.

Let's challenge Blue Green Yonder to get me out onto the water, and let's see how far I get.

By the way, we're not going to travel 70 miles, just so we're clear.

TREVOR: That's fine.

Yeah, we can do one mile.

MICHAEL: Okay, one mile is enough for me.

TREVOR: Indeed.

Okay, cheers.

MICHAEL: Trevor, are you sure that this is part of the training program because I really don't want to put me back out before I climb into the kayak.

TREVOR: Well, you never know, but you better be prepared for all.

♪ ♪ MICHAEL: Well, we've made it.

Surprisingly, that was not an overly strenuous paddle, and it was peaceful.

Here we are at Enniskillen Castle, as aspiring to me here today as it has been over the centuries.

For me, in this spot, there is a stillness to the setting that, well, it allows me to do something we probably all need to do more often, and that's daydream.

♪ Ciara, I can't quite believe that I'm sitting here with a guitar, probably the first time in, I think, 25 years since I've held one and attempted to play it.

But when I knew I was meeting you, I thought, I'm going to have a go.

Now, we have a connection that the viewers will not know about.

We are not that close in relatives.

Your grandfather... CIARA: Yeah.

MICHAEL: Is brother to my mom.

CIARA: Yes.

MICHAEL: We are second cousins.

CIARA: Second cousins.

MICHAEL: Yeah, yeah.

CIARA: Yeah.

MICHAEL: And I know that you grew up very much like me, surrounded by singing.

CIARA: Yeah.

MICHAEL: So we didn't have a choice but be singers.

CIARA: Exactly.

It was either the singers or the spoons.

Learned one of them.

MICHAEL: That's right.

Yeah, that's right.

God, I remember the day when they tried to teach me the spoons.

Just as well I could sing in tune.

So, your- your influences are a little different to mine in that you're a little bit country.

CIARA: Yeah.

MICHAEL: I'm definitely not a little bit rock and roll, I like to point out.

(Ciara laughs) MICHAEL: But you are a little bit country, am I right?

CIARA: Yes, I am, yes.

Huge inspirations Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash.

But then I love Irish country music, as well.

MICHAEL: Right.

CIARA: Yes.

MICHAEL: Now, Irish country is- it's not quite American country.

CIARA: Yeah.

MICHAEL: But there is- there is definitely a connection and a nod to, you know, bluegrass, very much influenced by jigs and reels here and in Scotland.

So there is a fierce connection.

Why do you love country so much?

CIARA: It's just very storytelling, I find, country music really.

You can really hear the hurt, and everything what they're saying kind of resonates.

MICHAEL: Yeah.

CIARA: So you can really feel the type of music.

MICHAEL: I am going to take a bit of a gamble here and I'm going to ask you to sing a song for me.

And I can't believe I'm saying this, but I am going to play the guitar.

Now please bear with me because I'm- it's like I'm a beginner again.

CIARA: You'll do great.

MICHAEL: Will you sing a song for me?

CIARA: I will of course.

MICHAEL: All right, let's give it a shot.

CIARA: No problem.

♪ ♪ When first I saw the lovelight in your eyes ♪ ♪ I thought love had not but joy for me ♪ ♪ And even though we drifted far apart ♪ ♪ I dreamed of what not but dreamed of thee ♪ ♪ I love you as I never loved before ♪ ♪ When first I saw you on the village street ♪ ♪ Come to me, my dreams of love and more ♪ ♪ I love you as I loved you when you were sweet ♪ ♪ When you were sweet sixteen ♪ ♪ MICHAEL: Thanks for joining me on my travels around Northern Ireland.

I'm Michael Londra, and I hope to see you next time on Ireland with Michael.

But for now, cheers.

Sláinte.

ANNOUNCER: Want to continue your travels to Ireland?

Your choice of the Ireland with Michael DVD, Seasons 1 and 2 or Seasons 3 and 4, with bonus concert footage is available for $30.

Ireland with Michael, a musical journey CD with songs from Michael and his guest artists, is available for $20.

The Ireland with Michael companion travel book, featuring places to visit as seen in all seasons, is also available for $30.

This offer is made by Wexford House.

Shipping and handling is not included.

MICHAEL: To learn more about everything you've seen in this episode, go to IrelandWithMichael.com.

ANNOUNCER: Ireland with Michael was made possible by- ♪ ANNOUNCER: The music, the folklore, and the hospitality.

It's all in Ireland.

ANNOUNCER: Since 1932, CIE Tours has welcomed travelers to discover Ireland's rolling green landscapes, cherished traditions, and Irish hospitality, creating memories that last a lifetime.

CIE Tours, where every journey becomes a story.

MICHAEL: Okay, put your hands up in the air!

Come on, let's get a-wavin'!

♪ In my heart, its rightful queen ♪ ♪ Ever loving ♪ Ever tender That's it!

♪ Ever true ♪ Like the Sun, your smile has shone ♪ Go on, Wexford!

♪ Gladdening all it glowed upon ♪ ♪ ♪