It started with a burst of green and gold and ended in a series of explosions so loud it seemed every window in Dublin would rattle.
The St Patrick's Skyfest 2000 fireworks display turned the quays into a gigantic open-air theatre last night that echoed with the "ooohs" and "aaahs" of hundreds of thousands of spectators wowed by the beauty of the fireworks that lit up the capital's sky and brought St Patrick's weekend to a spectacular end.
The ghost of the lacklustre New Year's Eve celebrations was well and truly laid to rest as the display fired the imaginations of the crowds. Many lingered on afterwards hoping the moment would never end, like the rugby fans on the terraces of the Stade de France a few hours earlier.
One of Dublin's newest Freemen, the Edge, missed all the fun. His route to Liberty Hall, where a select gathering watched the display from the rooftop, was blocked by thousands of spectators.
There were none of the crushes that spoiled the night for many last year. Gardai erected crash barriers on O'Connell Bridge and had to cope with nothing more serious than advising parents not to perch their kids on the parapet. An ugly scene occurred when youths fired missiles at gardai and spectators from a rooftop, but it failed to spoil the night.
The crowds started gathering along the quays from late afternoon. It was too long a wait for many children, who peered through the pillars of the bridges willing the fireworks to start. "How many minutes to go now, Mammy?" was the question that plagued tens of thousands of mothers all evening.
When the display finally got under way it was well worth the wait, with an average of 47 explosions a second. At times the riot of sound and light was almost too much to take in. The loudest cheers greeted the fireworks that dwarfed Liberty Hall, while the sharpest intakes of breath followed the silent bursts of colour that bathed the crowd in green, red and blue every few minutes. The finest view was reserved for the passengers on the 8.20 p.m. DART that glided across the Loopline bridge just as the display built up to its crescendo.
Half an hour and 56,000 explosions later it was all over, and the children were shepherded home to their beds to dream in vivid colour.
