My auld lad drove up to all those club finals with me & my brother. I was at two Buffers Alley finals so that would be 1986 and then 1989 when they won it. Up the old N11, stuck behind a Paddyâs Day parade in Arklow or Newtownmountkennedy, warm sandwiches that had been in the car boot all day on the way home at the Glen of the Downs picnic tables (before the eco warriors camped out there). Young GGA match going attendees these days can avail of cafès/coffee vans also selling baked goods such as caramel slices along with the hot drinks. They donât realise how primitive things were in the late 1980s-early 1990s.
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A lot of that road was always dual carriageway as long as I remember it. Glen of the Downs used to have a pitch and putt course, which I played once and once only, on Easter Monday 1993. I think we came back the following day and climbed the Sugar Loaf, which is my only time up that particular mountain.
Do you remember the canteen under the old Hogan Stand? There was a real warehouse canteen vibe off it. I think they supermarket type lino on the floor, or was it vinyl tiles. Rickety tables. Ham sandwiches and tea all the way. I think they ended up getting done for hygiene the day of the 1996 Dublin-Meath Leinster final, rats droppings. There used to be a shop selling GAA magazines and tat under the Hogan Stand as well. They sold stuff like Gaelic Sport, and wooden based, county themed coathangers you were expected to drill holes in and screw into the wall yourself. I suppose it was fair enough you were expected to screw it in yourself, but they could have at least provided holes in the wood to tell you where to drill the holes.
The âhawkersâ were still allowed into the stadium when I started going. Cans of Coke or 7 Up on tables or in prams, the cans with the ring pulls you could easily cut your finger pulling off, and Carburyâs chocolate. And there used to be a good few makeshift stalls outside the stadium selling team flat caps and scarves, mostly Liverpool. Hats, flags or headbands, as dee used to say. The peak part of the caps was generally made from cardboard from Corn Flakes packets.
The caps died a serious death once the 1980s ended.
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Iâm giving that a B-, mainly for effort. The main factor was dublin and kerry had a free run into croke park. The kerry myth was built on one provincial match against a weaker county who valued hurling above football. Dublin, fresh and sleeping in their own beds only had to beat meath.
For the purposes of illustration itâs obvious to anyone (who knows anything about football) that mickey linden was a vastly superior footballer to barney rock, pat Spillane, charlie redmond etc etc. Even Joe brolly was actually a better footballer than Spillane (the most overrated footballer in gaa history). When eugene mckenna occasionally met jack o shea there was nothing between them other than mckennaâs superior fielding and all round toughness,- but jack was guaranteed a day out in croke park at least once a seasonâŚavec tv cameras etc. Mckenna was even a better plumber, despite serving his time as a joiner.
Ulster teams also has an inferiority complex born out of the troublesâŚand donât even start me on the referees
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It was the Meath Mayo football final that year.
Wexford and Limerick played the hurling final. My motherâs sister had married a Wexford man in Boston. He came home with his son, a few years older than me. My aul lad brought his aul lad to local GAA club on the Saturday. I brought the cousin into town with my pals and absolutely poisoned him with drink. He woke up very very hungover. He was the colour of Kermit the Frog. He was in a bad bad way. He had a ticket for the Canal End. God help him. I thought he wasnât going to make the match he was so bad. He wouldnât have but he had to go - for his aul lad. A huge huge occasion. Off they go to Croke Park (Iâd no ticket that year).
He takes himself into Croke Park and deals with his hangover by trying to feed it. With Croke Park hot dogs. Hangover is cured. He puts it down to the miraculous and tasty hot dogs.
Wexford won. It was one of those trips of a lifetime I suppose for the two of them.
I never had the heart to tell him about the health inspection two weeks later at football final in Croke Park and the mice infestation in the Canal End and the droppings on the breadboard âused to store hot dog rolls.â
Epilogue
I travelled over to the cousin the folllowing May. He was living in San Jose then. He repaid the favour. I got out of bed the next morning and queried why the carpet was wet beside the bed. Thatâs where I had to clear up your vomit he said.
Halcyon days.
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Go hard or go home . Old skool.
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My father told me about having a cap in the fifties as a young lad after cycling in to see Tipp in the Gaelic Roads. I havenât a clue what they made caps with back then but It lashed rain and all the dye or whatever was in it rolled down his face
The first round Championship matches in Pairc Sean were a great occasion in the 90âs.
Pre our magnificent stand, the only place of comfort for the hard concrete benches on the other side of the ground.
We were usually there mad early so as not to have to walk far. My old lad would have been in 60âs then.
Sitting on the benches watching the opposition supporters pile in (usually Roscommon).
Random shouts by the alpha male in the group towards someone he knows as he passes by. âHow are ya Jimmy â will we win today?! Of course we will Johnny!! Yahoo!!â The wife goes past with a meek wave âHello Jimmyâ with a few gormless looking kids dressed head to toe in Roscommon gear traipsing on behind with a hooter for good measure. Old fellas with dodgy looking badges clipped to them and a few confident looking ladies deciding to wearing shades for the occasion.
Then we get beaten.
The old lad pulls into Duignanâs of Drumsna on the way home where he would demand that The Sunday Game was put on even if the existing clientele were watching something else. A few Rossie cunts making the short distance across the Shannon to rub our noses in the inevitable defeat, some mild mannered and some downright aggressive. Gabriel put manners on them though.
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Gangsters Ted.
Have you been in the âmagnificent new standâ - Iâm sure your conversion to cool urban dude means you have. I havenât made it to it yet believe it or not. I stand in the same general area, give or take 2/3 yds as I stood in the day Pairc SeĂĄn was opened (1964). Itâs the habitual home of the Fenagh supporters, you know whoâs nephew not to criticise etc. The faces have certainly changed in the almost 60 years but for whatever reason I wouldnât desert the spot for anything. Call me odd 
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I have been in it. But the quote above was firmly tongue in cheek.
All the times I was on the old Canal End, I canât consciously or even unconsciously recall anywhere in it that sold food.
Perhaps the idea of buying food under the old Canal End was so inherently gross that I wanted to banish it from my mind, to refuse to contemplate that such a thing would be possible.
There was a vibe of a sewer off the corridor running underneath the terrace, especially on a wet day. It was also beside an actual canal, a poorly maintained canal, a canal that looked like a haven for Weilâs disease.
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Is the judge in that case the father of a similarly named FG TD and junior minister. It must be.
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The Dublin lads seem to have a bit of a biting problem, based on that article.
Dublin to play double-header in Croke Park next week
Updated / Tuesday, 16 May 2023 13:15
Dublin will play matches in hurling and football in Croke Park
Dublin will play a double-header in Croke Park on Sunday week with their hurlersâ clash with Galway set to open proceedings.
The footballers will face Roscommon at GAA headquarters in their first All-Ireland round-robin match on 28 May.
Dublin v Roscommon will throw-in at 4pm with the hurling game at 2pm.
Elsewhere PĂĄirc Tailteann will host the Louth v Cork game on Saturday.
The Meath venue has been chosen as the neutral location for the Saturday 27 May fixture. Throw-in will be confirmed later in the week.
Armagh v Westmeath will take place at 4.45pm on the Saturday in the BOX-IT Athletic Grounds, with Derry against Monaghan following at 7pm in Celtic Park.
Both of those games will be broadcast on GAAGO, with the Joe McDonagh Cup final, featuring Offaly v Carlow, live on RTĂ2.
Two more hurling championship games will be broadcast by RTĂ on the Sunday, with the details to be confirmed.
Thereâs a WhatsApp of him going around celebrating and he dancing round the place. I presume itâs from a different time but the WhatsApp suggests that it was from yesterday or Sunday.
Edit: thereâs a bit of golf on the telly in background. Some of the Limerick freeze frame analysts might be able to determine when it was from