Thousands in Mayo to celebrate St Patrick's Day this afternoon

Thousands of Mayo people are expected to line the streets of their respective towns and communities to watch the St Patrick Day parades and celebrate Ireland national holiday.

While the majority of parades are expected to take place in the afternoon, it was an early start for the people of Dooagh on Achill Island where the festivities got underway at first light. The village on the most westerly tip of Mayo was woken to the sound of the 'Big Drum' for the traditional 6am reveille before members of the Dooagh Pipe Band began their march through the village.

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The St Patrick's Day celebrations in the parish of Achill is one of the highlights in the year with many of the island's Diaspora travelling home to all corners of the world to be part of the unique celebrations.

The tradition of pipe bands from the different villages on the island marching on St Patrick's Day has been a central role in the celebrations for almost a century and this year was no different.

Large crowds are expected to gather at Dookinella Church after noon Mass to soak up the atmosphere as the bands from Dooagh, Pollagh, Keel, Dookinella and Tonragee all gather and play before moving on to their respective villages for more celebrations.

The main parade in Mayo will be in the county town of Castlebar where hundreds of people are expected to line the street with the parade expected to get underway at 12 noon.

Former Mayo TD and Minister and the current Mayo Man of the Year, Michael Ring will lead his home town parade in Westport which is also expected to kick-off at 12 noon.

The Gaeltacht village of Eachléim at the tip of the Mullet peninsula will also have an early start with celebrations to begin at 12.30pm while the neighbouring village of Binghamstown will be at 1.30pm. Elsewhere in Erris, the Belmullet parade will have a later start of 3pm.

The village of Lahardane in the shadow of Nephin mountain will start their parade at 2pm while the north Mayo capital of Ballina will start their St Patrick's Day parade at 3pm as will the Swinford and Charlestown parades.

The Newport parade in west Mayo will have a later start of 3.30pm as will the Ballinrobe and Ballaghaderreen parades. Music in Ballinrobe will start from 2pm in the Cornmarket.

Some communities decided to have their parades and festivities a day early with Claremorris having theirs on Sunday so the town can travel to Croke Park to cheer on the St Colman's College footballers in the All-Ireland Colleges A Final this afternoon.

Crossmolina had their parade on Sunday evening while Kiltimagh, Balla, Killala, Bangor Erris and Foxford also held Sunday parades.