Exclusive | Like our Super Bowl: NYCs hero St. Patricks Day bartenders spill on how to deal with millions of revelers and survive 16-hour shifts

These sham-rock stars are raising the bar.On March 17, St.Patrick’s Day partiers from the world over will gussy up in green and descend on NYC for the world’s oldest and largest parade of its kind, drawing approximately 150,000 marchers, around 2 million spectators, and nearly as many bagpipes.For the hardy army of bartenders working the front lines on Tuesday, the annual scrum will be the ultimate test of a malt-pourer’s mettle — think “Braveheart” meets “Cocktail.” “St.

Pat’s is like our Super Bowl,” laughed Sean Reilly, owner of Sean’s Bar and Kitchen near Times Square.“By 8 a.m., the bars start filling up.

You really have to be able to handle the heat.”The rush, the publican told The Post, comes in two waves — the morning, before the start time of the 265th annual procession down Fifth Avenue, and then post-parade, when things wind down around 4:30 p.m.It’s an all-day, all-night affair, during which enough Guinness will be consumed to lay the population of the five boroughs low.(”You’ve got to wear your most comfortable shoes that you possibly could own,” Reilly admitted.)“By the time the parade lets out, all those people that are out there watching it, they got to go somewhere,” said Reilly, who has worked the green-letter day in family-owned bars since age 11, starting by picking up empty glasses and carrying ice buckets.For the leprechaun’s share of revelers, that “somewhere” winds up being Midtown watering holes like Sean’s on West 48th Street, a shillelagh’s throw from the route.Keeping the hordes well-watered will wind up being a marathon-level event for Katie Reilly (no relation) of Paddy Reilly’s Music Bar — the Dubliner recalls working the taps at the Second Avenue spot for “16 hours” straight last year, and expects a repeat next week, her fourth St.

Pat’s shift in a row.“I started at 9 a.m., I think, and then maybe it was 1 or 2 [a.m.] by the time I finished,” the beer pourer sighed...