Some questions...

You are flying into Dublin, where are you flying out of? Do you need to get back to Dublin on Day 7?

So, is this your plan so far?

D1 - Arrival. Dublin

D2 - Dublin

D3 to D6 - To be decided

D7 - Back to Dublin

D8 - Departure

If this is the case, then you will only have three full days (D4 - D6). Its not really enough to see a region.

You could drive from Dublin to Killarney - depending on traffic, it will take you 4 hours or so. You could stop in Adare for lunch www.adarevillage.com

In Killarney you could do the following

Ring of Kerry - 1 Day

Dingle - 1 Day (I note you've already posted about Dingle)

Muckross House and Gardens, Torc Waterfall, Ross Island.

Then drive back to Dublin.

Alternatively Galway -

Stop off in Kilbeggan on the way. Locke's Distillery is interesting.

www.lockesdistillerymuseum.ie

Also consider diverting to Birr Demesne

www.birrcastle.com and Clonmacnoise www.moytura.com/clonmacnoise.htm on the way.

Galway

Trip to the Aran Islands - 1 Day

Cong, Kylemore Abbey www.kylemoreabbey.com/ and a bit of connemara. 1 Day.

North Clare: Cliffs of Moher and The Burren and the Poulnabrone Dolmen 1 Day.

Just some suggestions.

Thanks so much for the helpful post. We're actually flying into Dub and out of Shannon. Your reco'd itin seems to be along the lines of what we are thinking.

We will likely make a stop at Doolin as well. Not sure we can do the drive to the soutwest in 1 day so we are thinkig of spending the night around Tipperary/Cashel. Does that seem to make sense?

One last question, I've heard Dingle is reco'd much more than Ring of Kerry. Since we're staying in Dingle area for two days, we may end up seeing both. Would you reco one over the other? I just hear Ring of Kerry is VERY congested w/ traffic...