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There I was, dancing a wild Irish jig to a live Irish band in Blarney Stone, a small, energetic pub in Fountain Valley on the evening of March 17.

Liam is the favorite son of boss Murphy, Kennedy-handsome and so smooth the family jokes that he “didn’t kiss the Blarney Stone—it kissed him.”

For Cathal O’Connell, whose green Paddywagon coaches bus visitors from around the world to tourist spots like the Cliffs of Moher, Giant’s Causeway and Blarney Stone, winning back 40% to 50% of his pre-pandemic customers this year “would be a win”.

There's nobody at all sitting at the tables outside The Blarney Stone, a bar a little further along the seafront in Torremolinos.

And for the first time since March 13, the Blarney Stone was kissed - a hugely important moment for anyone looking to get the gift of the gab.