I was listening to Oisin McConville on Rte radio on my way home today and he was saying how Croke park is the biggest pitch in the country by some distance and that’s why Kieran Donaghy wouldn’t be able to last the game playing in the middle as the ground was so much bigger than what he normally plays on. I rolled my eyes so much I nearly crashed. No other pitch comes close to it in size he said.
He must’ve been thinking about the stands.
No, he made sure to emphasise the pitch dimensions as that was what would make Donaghy have to run about more.
were you driving back up from the wexford minors open top bus tour at the time?
but seriously what other pitches have the same dimensions as croker, didnt realise any were the same
Did I ever mention here what a cunt of a man Jarlath Burns is?
Anyway, ignoring your jibe…
I had cause to research pitch dimensions and gathered the above info. It is about 3 or 4 years since it was updated tho so there could be recent changes to it.
fair enough, but as you say without up to date verifiable data its all up in the air. my original point, that dublins advantage comes with the familiarity with the turf type, has been lost forever now
Well regardless of the up to date figures, which generally don’t change, the incorrect perception of Croke park being the biggest pitch in the country is one that keeps being rolled out for some reason. turf conditions? Meh.
Wouldn’t disagree with your point in general, but that’s more to do the size of the grounds of Croke park and the sizeable and vocal support. Familiarity with the whole match day routine also helps. But those advantages only help a team that is already very good.
I would be skeptical of the Nowlan Park dimensions listed there. It is a long field but it is a fairly narrow pitch
of course, dublin have their shit fully together, those advantages didn’t help them dominate any other decade even if I think the turf helps hugely. I always knew their were longer grounds just thought it was one of the widest. The numbers and types of kids they have playing is the unbeatable advantage, the well off well fed well taken care of suburban kids who will be driven to every game, see a physio if needs be etc, gives a massive playing pool.They could easily go to kilkenny levels of dominance.
You forgot the dimensions of the new pitch out in the national centre of excellence. The pitch out there is suppose to be exact same as the pitch in Croke park. Surely all teams from around the country can use the facility.
1 Like
i can’t understand the opposition to splitting dublin, nortsiders, southsiders and d4 fairies all dislike each other anyway, imagine having a leinster final between fingal and south/west dublin, it’d be off the chain
1 Like
Nobody gives a fuck about bogball in Fingal
1 Like
http://www.livegaelic.com/features/myth-wide-open-spaces-croke-park/
Was trying to find some article about how Cody requested that the groundsmen made sure Nowlan park the same size as Croke park. But plenty of info to say those figures are correct
Croke Park plays completely differently than any other GAA pitch in the country. That is a distinct advantage to Dublin.
4 Likes
Mayo have pushed Dublin all the way over the past four years. Dethroning them as All Ireland champions in 2012, losing by just 1 point in 2013 final and bringing them to a replay in last year’s semi final. Would suspect they’ve missed the boat and are past it by now.
Tyrone haven’t been a factor in the championship this decade and after a winter/spring in the second tier, its utter nonsense to talk about Tyrone beating Dublin.
@Gman those stats are dodgy. No way the gaelic grounds is 137m long. That would mean the 65 lines were just 7m apart which is not the case.
The Gaelic Grounds is massive
Yes. I have spent scary time in full backlines there and no other defender within 40 yards to help.