A BALLOON let off at Plymouth Argyle FC Home Park ground in the west of England has made its way across the Celtic Sea to Youghal. The balloon with the distinctive green and white Plymouth Argyle FC logo was found by local Youghal resident Maria Moynihan when it landed on a fence at Youghal’s front strand near Ballyvergan Bog. Maria made the discovery at  around 12.00am on Wednesday 4th May 2011. She was a bit surprised and said  “There was a strong wind for the past couple of days but couldn’t believe that it had traveled so far”. The balloon had blown nearly 200 miles from Plymouth to Youghal. Plymouth Argyle FC are the most southern and western League club in England.

Met Éireann, the Irish National Meteorological Service, confirmed that there were strong South Easterly winds which could have allowed the balloon to float in a North Westerly direction from Plymouth towards Youghal in East Cork. Chris Parsons, a media spokesperson for Plymouth Argyle FC said there was a big match at the Home Park grounds last Monday where Plymouth Argyle FC were playing an important fixture against Southampton. That could explain the release of the balloon and how it had blown all the way over to Ireland. ” The Pilgrims” as they are know lost the match 3-1 to Southampton. Although Youghal United are current holders of the Guinness Book of Records for 5-a-side soccer ( 33 ½ hours) which they achieved last summer, Guinness World Records said it does not monitor balloon races because there is little way of tracking the balloons for their entire journey.

 

Photo: Michael Hussey www.youghalonline.com