Limerick woman flies from Australia to surprise dad for All-Ireland

THERE was many a Limerick man who shed a tear or two when referee John Keenan blew the final whistle of the All-Ireland final but Ray Lee was crying well before the throw-in!

A big group of the Lee clan headed off from Charleville to Croke Park on Sunday. However, Ray and Brendan, of Lee's Centra Group with stores in the north Cork town and Pallasgreen, are from Effin and proud Limerick supporters.

Ray and Melissa Lee travelled with eldest son Dylan, who happens to be a proud Rebel, but the other two children Ivana and Luke were in Australia, or so they thought.

“We were inside in the Croke Park hotel ahead of the game and the next thing I get a tap on the shoulder and there was my daughter standing beside me. It was a lovely surprise - she has been away in Australia since May 2022.

“She was due home in three weeks time on holidays but she got a notion to come home for the final as she is a big Limerick hurling follower. Down through the years she'd have been to every match with me,” said Ray.

Ivana kept her plans a closely guarded secret. The only person who knew was Ray's brother Brendan as Ivana wanted to make sure she had a match ticket.

Ivana said she only got the idea to come home last week.

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“I haven't met my baby nephew and when I was coming home on holiday it was going to be a hectic couple of weeks with weddings and what not so last week I said I would just look to see how much it cost to change my flights and it was very reasonable.

“So I thought I will get an extra two weeks at home and surprise them for the All-Ireland - I won't get an opportunity like that again,” said Ivana, who works for an Irish construction company in the Northern Territories.

“We always went to the Limerick matches together. It is a special day for both of us so I just thought it would be a perfect time to surprise him,” said Ivana, who only landed on Saturday night.

Ray took to Facebook to say he was an “emotional wreck” with a picture of him and Ivana in Croke Park. Ivana said when her dad first saw her it was a look of shock.

“A kind of what are you doing here kind of a look. It took him a second to process and then it hit him hard. The waterworks started and they didn’t stop for the day. The result topped off the day perfectly,” smiled Ivana.