For Irish woman Angela Nolan and English man Liam Adcock, Irish rugby was their true love. That was, until they met each other on Facebook. Now, both of their statuses read: “Married.”

The draw for the 2010 All Ireland Football Championships was made Thursday night, and New York will entertain Galway, while champions Kerry start their defense against Tipperary.

To get started with your own literary tour of Ireland here’s a list of the 10 top annual Irish literary festivals to check out. Pick any one of them and in no time you’ll be completely absorbed by Irish culture and craic.

The names Fitzgerald, Fitzpatrick and others with the prefix "Fitz" are numerous in Ireland. The name-form, however, is Norman and most of the families arrived in Ireland during the 12th century. The Normans, who were French in origin, conquered many parts of Ireland but gradually adopted the Gaelic language and customs and to a great extent assimilated with the native population, becoming more Irish than the Irish themselves.

The name Connolly is derived from several different roots. In Connaught and Monaghan it derives from the Gaelic O'Coingeallaigh. Both are anglicized to Connolly although the spelling form Connelly is often found in Galway.

  Introduction Ireland is an island on the western fringe of Europe between latitude 51 1/2 and 55 1/2 degrees north, and longitude 5 1/2 to 10 1/2 degrees west. Its greatest length, from Malin Head in the north to Mizen Head in the south, is 486 km and its greatest width from east to west is approximately 275

O'Donoghue is one of the most popular names in Ireland. It is prevalent throughout Counties Galway, Cavan, Kerry and Cork. O'Donoghues, Donohoes, Donohue, Dunphys and Donoges are descendants of O Donnchadha, a personal name that has been Anglicized into Donogh.

Kevin Sinnott, son of former Irish Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Cathy Sinnott, drowned in a lake in the Gold Creek Golf Course area of Dawsonville, Georgia.

News from the 32: Antrim, Armagh, Carlow, Cavan, Clare, Cork, Derry, Donegal, Down, Dublin, Fermanagh, Galway, Kerry, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Leitrim, Limerick, Longford, Louth, Mayo, Meath, Monaghan, Offaly, Roscommon, Sligo, Tipperary, Tyrone, Waterford, Westmeath, Wexford, Wicklow

The All Ireland Final between Cork and Kerry on September 20, 2008 will be a game based on evening up the scores and avenging tough defeats For Cork, though they overcame Kerry in this year’s Munster Final, this team has not reached the Holy Grail of taking the Same Maguire cup Leeside yet, and the closest they came was in 2007 when they were sent home sour-pussed after a ten point defeat to none other than Kerry.

The Reidy family surname (also Reedy, Riedy, Reid, and O'Reidy) is an Anglicized version of the Gaelic name Riada. The family was part of the Dalcassian sept and in early Gaelic times lived in the southwest of Ireland, in the Munster counties of Clare and Kerry.

Keough, Keogh, Kehoe, O'Hoey, Hoy, Haughy, Haugh and MacKeogh are all derivatives of the Irish surname Mac Eochaidh. The clan originated in Leinster, and the name is common in County Wexford, and in the Munster counties of Limerick and Tipperary, where the Irish spelling is MagCeoch or MacCeoch. In medieval times the MacKeoghs from Leinster moved from Kildare to Wicklow and then down to Wexford.

This weekend at the NY GAA, Offaly, Roscommon, Cork and Down came out on top.

The latest news from around the country

Irish and Irish-Americans alike tend to be immensely proud of their surnames. But which last names win in the battle of Irishness? Here are the top 10 most popular Irish last names.

Amidst claims that Sinn Fein has become irrelevant in the south of Ireland and rumors that Gerry Adams is facing his political demise, the Sinn Fein leader strongly states that he and his party aren’t going anywhere.

Though he may be gone back to Kerry to try and join his father and brother by winning an All Ireland medal with his beloved Kerry, Tadhg Kennelly is still very much in the mind of Paul Roos, manager of the Sydney Swans Aussies Rules team where Kennelly enjoyed huge success.

The O'Carrolls go back to the third century King Oilioll Olum of Munster. Their name derives from Cearbhaill, who was the Brian Boru in 1014 at the battle of Clontarf. Cearbhaill means warlike champion and the O'Carrolls have lived up to the name.

Cathal Dervan's recap of the past weekend's GAA action from Ireland, covering wins by Dublin, Tipperary, Kerry, Down, Derry and Galway.

The large scale of the annual Peter Smith Feis reflects Smith’s contribution to Irish dance. Not only is his school one of the biggest on the east coast, Smith himself has actively influenced the direction of Irish dance in the U.S., bringing in a style in the 1950s that has held sway ever since.

Tipperary survived a superb Clare fightback to win in the Gaelic Grounds on Sunday and seal their place in the Munster final.

John Mullane was in scorching form as Waterford booked their place in the Munster SHC final with an eight-point victory against Limerick in this semi-final replay

O'Hara is an anglicized phonetic rendering of the Irish translation O hEaghra, and is one of the few Irish families to have consistently kept the 'O' before the name. The clan, of a distinguished origin, is descended from Eaghra (pronounced Ara), chief of Luighne (modern Leyny) in County Sligo.

It can be argued that familiarity has taken the edge off this once great rivalry, but the 18th Championship meeting of Cork and Kerry this decade has all the ingredients to be a potential epic on Leeside.

How does one try and visit all of Ireland in just two weeks? By cramming in as much as possible and hardly stopping to sleep! One American girl's first-time sprint around Ireland.

In football Dublin and Limerick recorded wins, while Cork and Kerry drew and will have to play again. In Leinster hurling, Antrim's debut was a tough one as they went down by 12 points to the Dubs.

Bryan Sheehan's free, seconds from the end of added time, saved Kerry's blushes at Fitzgerald Stadium on Sunday afternoon after Colm O'Neill's superb 45' looked to have handed Conor Counihan's Cork a famous victory in the Munster SFC semi-final.

There was a dramatic day of Championship action on Sunday, with games in all four provinces. Tipperary produced a fine display to see off a resilient Cork in Semple Stadium on a scoreline of 1-19 to

The McCarthy clan traces its ancestry through an illustrious line of individuals and events reaching far back into ancient Celtic history and myth. The McCarthys claim descendants from the Eoghanachta, the rulers of the fifth province of Ireland, or Munster. The Eoghanachta were a people believed to have descended from Heber, the son of the mythical King Milesius of Spain.

Sunday saw six games in the Senior Football Championship, with Derry, Cork and Galway among the winners. Derry edged a battling Ulster quarter-final with Monaghan to kick off with a win, while in Munster Cork were much too good for Waterford, but it was a tighter affair as Limerick edged Tipperary. Galway were big victors in London in the Connacht quarter-final, while the Leinster first round saw Kildare get the better of Offaly and Wicklow just see off Longford.

Thurles will host the Allianz National Hurling League's Division One and Two finals on Sunday.

The O'Connor name, with its varied spellings, doesn't spring from a common source. The name arose in five areas of Ireland: Connacht, Kerry, Derry, Offaly, and Clare and split into six distinct septs, five of which are still in existence.

The name Walsh or Welsh is one of the most numerous of the Norman associated names found in Ireland. It seems to have been the name used independently by the many different groups of Welsh people who arrived in Ireland with the Normans during the 12th century. The name simply means Welshman and its early Norman form was "Le Waleys" but this became gradually anglicized to Walsh.

The O'Sullivan Clan of Munster has produced fine military leaders, sporting heroes, politicians, movie stars, songwriters, and even a space walker, as the following history of one of the most popular Irish names illustrates. The O'Sullivans or Sullivans are one of the most populous of the Munster families

Competition 27 Girls 14 - 15 results 124 Sinead Carson Doherty : Belfast, Ireland 1 17

Competition 7 Boys 14 - 15 results Entry Name School Rank 38 Joe Bitter Carey : Birmingham, England 1 12

Competition 5 Boys 16 - 17 Result Entry Name School Rank 27 Michael Putman Dennehy : Chicago, USA 1 16

Competition 2 Men 19 - 21 Results     Entry Name School Rank 30 Gerard Carson Doherty : Belfast, Ireland 1 7

  Entry Name School Rank 27 Michael Putman Dennehy : Chicago, USA 1 16

A new survey suggests that much of Ireland's best and brightest will have to leave the country in search of work

Competition 9 Boys 12 - 13 results Entry Name School Rank 22 Sean Downes McCutcheon : Glasgow, Scotland 1 42

A young dancer from County Kerry is planning on making a big impression at the 2009 World Irish Dancing Championships in Philadelphia

Legendary English prop Jason Leonard believes John Hayes should be included in the British & Irish Lions squad for this summer’s Tour of South Africa.

St Patrick's Day has a packed day of action at Croke Park with the All-Ireland Club Finals taking place.

FOR the past four years the last of the trad tunes of the year in East Durham belonged to a dedicated group of musicians who assembled in late fall to share their singular obsession, the playing of the Irish bagpipes or uilleann (elbow) pipes.

When the Northeast Piping Tionol convened this past weekend at Gavin's Golden Hill Resort for workshops, sessions and a master Saturday evening concert along with camaraderie, there were over 65 pipers from the U.S.

And they're off! Bachelor brothers Stevie and Timmy Kelliher saunter up Heartbreak Hill, balancing buckets of paint and brushes as they go. Joe Ryle, self-styled "chief cook and bottle washer," trots off to repair railings at Beenbawn Corner. Mike Sayers mills around the grandstand, supervising an army of volunteers preparing for the annual onslaught of horse-mad punters.

Cormac, Kevin and Declan Lyons are miracle babies.

The trio, born to Desmond and Kerry Lyons on October 10, are identical triplets, a very rare phenomenon which is all the more astounding because they were conceived naturally. Identical triplets are as rare as in one in one hundred million births according to some experts.

Before Barack Obama was elected the 44th president of the United States last Tuesday the celebrations were well underway in Moneygall, Co. Offaly, home to the president-elect's Irish ancestors.

By 7 p.

GALWAY defender Kieran Fitzgerald suffered a broken bone in his arm as Corofin lost to Kilmacud Crokes in the All-Ireland club SFC semifinal on Saturday. Crokes will now meet Crossmaglen Rangers in the All-Ireland final after their win over Limerick's Dromcollogher Broadford . .

GALWAY and Antrim will both play in the Leinster hurling championship next season after a radical vote to amend the structure of the provincial game was passed at a Special Congress in Croke Park on Saturday.

Delegates from Dublin, Offaly and Wexford all spoke out against the proposal, but an 80% yes vote ensured the changes will come into place next year.

The move has been welcomed by GAA President Nickey Brennan, who also confirmed that Leinster Championship games could be played outside the province next season if Galway or Antrim receive home draws.