traveling by car from shannon to dingle

Have you done any research at all about what you might want to see? What kind of tour are you looking for if you have to be in Dingle the first night? The drive from Shannon to Dingle will be around 4 hours by itself, and you will be getting tired early that evening if you are arriving from the US. The Cliffs of Moher are well worth a visit, but they are about an hour in the opposite direction from Dingle. You might save a bit of time taking the car ferry at Tarbert-Killimer instead of going around through Limerick.

As long as you are good to drive right off the plane you could be at the Cliffs on the early side, hopefully before all the tour groups show up. It's spectacular, and really nice without a lot of people.
We did the ferry at Tarbert, worked like a charm, it was fun and saves you a half hour and possibly some aggravation driving through a more populous area.
I recommend taking the Super CDW when you rent a car, also, an automatic transmission is nice but you may need to specify that.

You'll also be heading over the Conor Pass-have cameras ready!

We opted for the Tarbert ferry based on the very strong recommendation of our B&B owner. You can buy the ticket online (discounted) or pay on the ferry.

Thanks, all.