We had a huge lead the first day and KK clawed it back and we needed a Brian Stapleton point to level it. Won the replay something live 2-5 to 2-3! First time ever I witnessed Limerick winning an AI at any grade. I have been at all 6 of our U21 wins. The best atmosphere was at the 2001 final v Wexford. Over 30k at the game with a 17 yo Maurice O Brien giving a Tour de France performance.
drugs… no wonder they beat us…
3 Likes
I think we were 10 pts up and won by 2 or so.
One of the very few times we have seen Limerick well ahead and face a big comeback.
2-5 to 2-4
You still nearly bottled it.
Long ball was dropped into the square by either Barry Lambert or one of the Jacobs and it was wound on. I remember watching it in the Scholars in UL the day after our Grad Ball - our Limerick mates were shitting it when the free was floated in. We never looked like winning it at all.
‘94.
Up in the Cusack Stand. Me and one of my friends sat together. Just about plotting our way on to the pitch when it all went horribly wrong. Obviously was disappointed but as a child you just expect to come back and win it next year. Didn’t appreciate how actually gutting it was.
‘96. My old man pulled it out of the bag on the Friday night of the final. Sourced two tickets from up in Leitrim or Roscommon or somewhere like that. Up in The ‘Hill, possibly one of only a handful of Limerick fans up there. Can still vividly remember the lad in the turnstile saying “Jesus, there’s not many of you up this end!’.
My father was never a man to swear much but at full time he just muttered “let’s get the fuck out of here.” Got the train home and not a word uttered all the way.
4 Likes
‘07
Was in Manchester on the Saturday night for Manchester United v Roy Keane’s Sunderland. A terrible game, United won 1-0.
Flew back from Liverpool first thing the next morning. Loads of fellow roasters on the flight. The usual scare mongering for weeks previously about tickets but walking down Dorset Street lads couldn’t give them away. Was up in The Hill again, Ollie Moran’s second half goal only gave us false hope.
I should have stayed in England the way it panned out.
1 Like
There is a pattern to all these Limerick sob stories.
1 Like
I’m hoping to go to both finals. I’ve been to very matches this summer.
No shit, Sherlock.
Worked with Brian for a while a few years back. A sound skin. He was marking a Lockes man those days, jaysus we had 3 on the team iirc.
@Locke, the Fox and Bosco were definitely on it but was Egan as well?
Long free for a leveller that drifted wide. They were bottling it big time. They had Aodhan MacSuibhne on side though so were safe enough.
They have the All Ireland now hon Limerick pal
Yep. Bosco at full back, Fox in the corner and Egan half forward I think. Was at the replay, first time in Thurles.
2009 Upper Davin
For me this was easily the best of the Kilkenny v Tipp finals though I missed 2014 which from TV looked very entertaining.
2009 was all about the Tipp full forward line. Theyd have been out of sight if they took some of the chances.
I was directly behind the Benny Dunne v Tommy Walsh incident…i’ve rarely witnessed anything more stupid at that level but in AI it was worse anyway. As soon as it happened I suspected Tipp would be caught notwithstanding their efforts just after the goal
Pat Kerwick set up a score in the first half, I cant recall who scored it, and the roar from the Tipp crowd was deafening.
The atmosphere at that final was electric and fuck me it was physical. I thought 2010 and 2011 were not near as good.
1 Like
By far the best game I was ever at.
1 Like
I was sat behind the Tipp dugout at that match with @Pikeman. Tipp hurled KK off the park for the first half yet went in at half time only 2 points up. Sheedy was like a man possessed in the first half and seemed to sum up Tipp in expending lots of energy. Was a savage final.
2011 was special. Up against it and under the cosh vs Galway. Dwyer makes a break down the left and sends it across. Jacob puts up the paw, turns and buries it. As good a goal to grace any final. All the sweeter having won the earlier final on the same day.
What?
1 Like
That fanfare thing is a load of shite.
Teams running onto the pitch used to be a big thing for All-Ireland finals but it’s an irrelevance now, really.
That has been the case certainly since alcohol began to be sold in the stadium, as a lot of people are more interested in getting in a last pre-match pint, but it was declining in importance anyway before that, a bit like how minor finals have declined in importance, at least in terms of supporters of the senior teams getting into the stadium to watch them.
Teams running out from the corner as they did up to 1995 looked much better than them running out from the centre of the Hogan Stand as they do now. The teams had to run further, and there was something about coming out of that tunnel with a cage overhead which made it look more exciting. It looked particularly good if you were stood on Hill 16, with the view of the mountains in the background over the Canal End. I think Croke Park lost something when this view was obliterated. Tyrone running out for the 1995 All-Ireland final was particularly impressive, with a sea of red and white flags, the hills in the background and a deafening noise augmented by copious amounts of air horns, which are much missed from GAA games. You don’t get nearly the same amount of flags these days either.
One other thing the loss of the Canal End as a terrace has destroyed is the practice which was particularly noticeable in the 90s where each end was filled with supporters of one team. I think this has taken away from the atmosphere at All-Ireland finals. If you were seated at an All-Ireland final in the 1990s it was great to observe the way one end lifted when one team scored, and then the other one when the other team scored.
The one team you still get this with is Dublin.
Semi-finals, especially when Dublin are involved, tend to have much superior atmospheres to finals. By far the most deafening roar you’ll ever hear in the new Croke Park is if you’re standing on Hill 16 when Dublin lose a semi-final. The roar at the final whistle when Armagh beat Dublin in the 2002 semi-final is the loudest and most guttural I’ve ever heard and it was amplified by the silence around me. The roars from the rest of the stadium after the 2006, 2010, 2012 and 2014 semi-finals have been similar.
7 Likes