While expertly maintained, the lush green turf of Carter-Finley Stadium will pale in comparison to the rolling hills of Ireland this summer for a small band of Wolfpack staff members and fans. Football head coach Tom O’Brien will lead a trip back to the home of his ancestors this summer. O’Brien’s paternal great-grandparents emigrated from Ireland almost a century ago.

“My dad’s from Clara so I certainly enjoy going to Ireland,” O’Brien said. “[I appreciate] all the history it has and I’ll go look for leprechauns.”

O’Brien is no stranger to international travel. He and his wife Jennifer visited Ireland a few years ago when their daughter was on a semester study aboard trip there.

“Everywhere we’re going we have already been,” O’Brien said of the weeklong excursion he, Jennifer, Athletic Director Lee Fowler and his wife Carol, along with 45 Wolfpack Club Boosters will take around the beautiful countryside of Ireland.

Brian Cochrane of the Wolfpack Club hammered out most of the details of the trip with help from Jennifer O’Brien. The trip needed at least 15 boosters to fund the outing and organizers were surprised when tickets quickly sold out.

O’Brien said he is excited to be traveling with his fans.

“Some of them I’ve met and have been around and others I don’t know,” O’Brien said. “So it’s an opportunity to get to know them personally and it’s an opportunity for them to get to know us personally. I think that’s the advantage of the trip.”

This will be the first trip to Ireland for many of the Wolfpackers and Fowler.

“I’ve never been to Ireland before so I am excited,” Fowler said. “It’s going to be fun to be with Wolfpackers number one, and fun to be in a country I’ve never been to. And to play some golf — that’s my hobby.  They have some of the oldest golf courses in the world so that will be nice.”

Fowler and O’Brien will have three golf outings that Wolfpackers have the option to attend. They will be playing at the Ballybunion Old Links course, Druids Glen, which is the top parkland course in Ireland and hosted the PGA Tour’s Irish Open, and the European Club. 

“We’re going to Ballybunion, which is one of the oldest courses there,” O’Brien said. “All of the courses have spectacular vistas there on the course by the water.”

Besides the golfing, O’Brien said he is most excited for the historical significance of the land.  On his way to Dublin, he hopes to have time for a side trip to his ancestral castle, Bunratty Castle, which is the traditional home of Brian Boru. Descendants that followed Boru were “of the house of Brien” or, more commonly, “O’Brien.”

“Certainly they will all really enjoy the culture,” O’Brien said. “History in Europe is a lot different than history in America — we have no history compared to Europe. It’s just a great trip to recognize that.”

Highlights of the trip include the Cliffs of Moher, the Ring of Kerry, a carriage ride of Muckross House and Gardens and a tour of the Guinness Brewery in Dublin.

“We’re going to have lunch at The Brazen Head, Ireland’s oldest pub,” O’Brien said. “And we’re going to tour the Guinness Factory too—Guinness always tastes better in Ireland.”

The members of Wolfpack Nation will be leaving for Ireland on May 15 and return May 22. 

“I’m just looking forward to seeing the country side in Dublin, Ireland,” Fowler said. “It should be a lot of fun.”