THE humble potato has become the inspiration behind an Irish night of revelry, so it has.

Celtic spirits rarely need an excuse to have a good craic but the common spud is one of their most unusual.

The vegetable will feature on a monster menu at O'Neill's Irish bar, Blackburn, as part of a massive party to mark Lughnasa - the Gaelic word for August.

Lughnasa is traditionally celebrated on the first weekend of the month and many communities in Ireland still feast on a special dish of potatoes, butter, boiled cabbage, spring onions and wild garlic - as the Dublin-born manager of O'Neill's will tell you.

Declan Donaghy, boss of the King William Street bar, said: "Of course food and drink play a major part in any Irish shindig - so we'll be featuring a version of this dish, called colcannon, for an authentic taste of Ireland."

So will Declan be asking his punters to take part in every Lughnasa event - such as lighting bonfires and cheering on horse swimming races?

He added: "I can't quite match that but what I can offer is authentic Irish food, a drop of the Irish second to none, the best in jigging music and a social occasion that could always turn into a party."

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