Dublin Irish to have ring ceremony at the Shamrock Bowl on July 17

DUBLIN, Ga. — The Irish eyes are still smiling in the city of Dublin after the Irish football team brought home the state title once again for the first time since 2006, but thanks to COVID-19 entering the scene, the Green-and-Gold never got a chance to officially celebrate with one another.

“Our banquet was supposed to be about a month ago so we could pass out our state championship rings,” says head coach Roger Holmes. “Their prom and graduation have been put on hold and we haven’t been able to give them their awards and rings for such a tremendous season, but we wanted to do it right.”

Recent good news has the Irish grads scheduled to graduate in mid-July with a special presentation for the champs the day before.

Holmes explains, “We debated about bringing up the kids to the school one at a time to give them their rings, but if we can wait a little bit, I think the experience of them having that with their teammates and social distancing with their parents in the stands for us as coaches to see that with big smiles on our face is what we want. They don’t know what the rings look like. They are locked away. Nobody has them. We want to receive them together as a family.”

And to help improve their “lost time” during the second half of the school year, with the help of Dublin assistant coach Nick Collins, the Atlanta Falcons sponsored graduation yard signs to the 18 state champion seniors, to help encourage them and let them know better days are ahead.

The Dublin Irish football team will have a ring ceremony at the Shamrock Bowl July 17th to celebrate their title. Then, on the 18th, graduation will take place to finish off the school year for the Class of 2020 if all goes according to plan.

RELATED: Visit Dublin honors high school seniors with digital yearbook on social media

RELATED: Full Coverage: National Signing Day 2020

RELATED: Dublin sweeps 2A All-State top honors

RELATED: Dublin High School defeats Brooks to win GHSA 2A championship

RELATED: Local teams prepare for a wet day of championship football in Atlanta

STAY ALERT | Download our FREE app now to receive breaking news and weather alerts. You can find the app on the Apple Store and Google Play.

STAY UPDATED | Click here to subscribe to our Midday Minute newsletter and receive the latest headlines and information in your inbox every day.

Have a news tip? Email news@13wmaz.com, or visit our Facebook page.