I was in Ireland at bout the same time of your story (June 1995). I am 100% Irish by heritage - 8 great grandparents came from Ireland during to last famine to Canada (too poor to get a pass to NY) and later immigrated (legally) to the US.
My wife and I were meeting a friend from Cork who had worked in the US and was going to show us around the country. I was interested in seeing where my ancestors came from if we were nearby, but for the most part, it was a site seeing trip.
I went into the bathroom of the bar in Cork where I was waiting for our friend to show up. My clothes clearly marked me as American at the time - jeans and tennis shoes while the locals all wore black or brown leather shoes and regular pants.
I was at the urinal when two big guys came up to me on each side (never a good sign).
The guy on the right and behind me says, “So you’re Irish?”
I continued my business and said, “No, I’m American”.
The guy responded after a second, “Damn right you are! If you’ said otherwise, we’d have kicked your ass”.
The Irish at that time were a contradiction culturally. The older gen loves the US, but the younger generation loathed the American Irish who had left. They felt that they had “bailed out” when things got tough (but in reality, their ancestors for the most part never had it tough enough to force the move). They wanted to keep their identity, but at the same time, they all drank Budweiser.
But as I thought back about it, I think an American which I think is a good thing, and I’m proud of it.
This guy knows nothing of the American Irish experience. He knows nothing of the history of Fr Corby with the Irish Brigade at Gettysburg that inspired our name. He knows nothing of the Irish mockery and insulting leprechaun images used by nonIrish detractors that led ND to adopt it as a mascot as a sort of “Don’t Tread On Me” statement.
Fuck him. He can go back to Ireland if you doesn’t like it (and this as I think about it is a very consistent sentiment to Trump’s comment to Tlaib a few years ago).