Across Ireland via public transportation

We’ve just returned from our 3rd trip to Ireland; this time around we decided to use public transportation and day tours instead of renting a car. I’m grateful to those who offered some helpful information on this forum before we left!
I’m glad to report this was a great success. We flew in and out of Dublin, staying there a couple of nights on each end of the 3-week trip. We took the train (Irish Rail) to Galway, while there for several days we took a day trip through Connemara with Get Your Guide. From Galway we took a public bus to Doolin for a few nights, then bused back to Galway, changing buses for Westport. Our main interest in the smaller towns was our endless pursuit of good trad sessions, and we were not disappointed.
From Westport, we took the train back to Dublin, taking a LUAS tram from Heuston Station to Connolly, then the train to Belfast. While there we did two tours, a Black Cab tour and then a day tour up the Antrim coast to Giants Causeway (booked through Viator). All of our day trip guides were terrific. Finally, we returned to Dublin by train.
We found this fairly easy with the help of some useful apps and websites: TFI Live (alongside Google Maps), TFI Go, and the TFI Leap Top-Up. (TFI is Transport for Ireland, transportforireland.ie). We also used irishrail.ie, and for taxis we used the FreeNow app. The Leap card came in very handy with buses everywhere we went in the Republic. The buses and trains were all clean, on time, and very reasonable, especially when we booked tickets online. The only glitches had to do with identifying the correct bus stops - info on the bus stop signs was not always accurate or up-to-date, and sometimes the online info was vague as to the exact location of the bus stop. The smaller towns did not have a bus station, just a stop. The Galway bus station is under construction and is a mess for now.
With so many different bus companies, finding correct info can be a challenge. But in all, this went even smoother than we expected. It took some planning, but the benefit was less expense and less stress than driving a rental car. Obviously, this is more practical for people not on a tight timeline, and there are some areas that would be tougher to reach where a car makes more sense. But for anyone considering public transportation, we found it quite doable and we enjoyed having relaxed time on buses and trains. Both of us were able to enjoy the scenery. As a bonus, we had some great conversations with other travelers - locals and visitors alike. We will definitely do this on future trips to this beautiful island!