Is it open every day or just match day?
They must have about 3x Dart Boards. I thought it was remarkable.
Open every day as far as I know. I’d imagine they do a better trade than most GAA clubhouses in Dublin. Great venue for christening, funerals, baptisms… I can remember going in there a few years back after some club football game and Karaoke was in full flow with the locals.
There are a few choice locals around there such as the Ramble.
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I’d consider Parnell Park to be posh enough compared to some of the spots in towards the city from there.
Myself and my companion met some shady characters on our way to and from the game.
Where is Craobh Ciaran’s home pitch? The astro hardly counts.
What used to be the N32, M50 to Malahide Road. Opposite the halting site.
I always felt Ballygunner were in control of the game but never entirely comfortable.
They had chances to make life easier for themselves when they were 7 points up but missed 3 frees in a row before the second water break.
Is the Ardlea inn still going ? Rank boozer …
I’d say plenty keepers make saves based on instinct, experience and good fortune where they may not have time to see the ball
The plastics are circling
I see you’ve given your own list there back to 2008 and the football, as is right and proper, has taken pride of place almost every year in the last couple of decades but back in the day it was a mix and match.
Off the top of my head:
1986: Football first, hurling second
1987: Don’t know
1988: Hurling first, football second
1989: Pretty sure the football was first with the hurling second - the hurling was live on de telly but I don’t think the football was, it was common practice back then that one of the matches would be broadcast live but not the other
1990: Don’t know, was watching the Scotland v England Grand Slam match
1991: 99% sure it was hurling first, football second, think the hurling was televised but not the football
1992: Football first, hurling second - the hurling was a semi-final second replay between Kiltormer and Cashel
1993: Football first, hurling second - football only was televised
1994: Hurling first, football second - hurling only televised
1995: Football first, hurling second - both televised
1996: Can’t remember
1997: Think the football was first
1998: Think it was hurling first, football second
1999: Hurling first, football second
2000: Hurling first, football second
2001: Hurling first football second
I think it was hurling first, football second pretty much every year thereafter.
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I’m fairly sure Crossmaglen v Crokes was first in 2007.
I’d have no issue with the football going second to be honest as has been tradition now.
I’ve a feeling you might be right on 2007 but I have no recollection at all of the hurling that year. To be honest I have almost zero recollection of any of the hurling finals from 2002-2007 inclusive.
I’ve a notion I might attend the finals this year but then again I might not. Haven’t been at the club finals since 2008 when Vinnie’s beat Nemo by a point, and an absolute hooar of an Arctic wind blew through the lower tier of the Cusack stand. A very attractive double header™ could be a tough station at the best of times on Paddy’s Day, the chances are February will be worse again. The thing with Paddy’s Day was the weather could be benign or it could be a beast. 1992 and 2000 which I was at were benign, 1999, 2003, 2005 and 2009 which I wasn’t at were benign. '14 and '16 too I think. 1995, 2006, 2013 were nasty days out of winter.
2018 was the worst ever weather wise.
Absolutely baltic.
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The upper tier of the old Hogan Stand was a grand place to watch a winter match. With the sloping roof and the glass panels at the sides you felt much more protected from the elements. The new Croke Park feels much more exposed, you get biting winds driving across you.
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Ballyhale 5/6
Ballygunner 6/5
Draw 8/1
The 2006 Paddy’s Day club finals was easily the coldest I’ve ever been in my life. That was the day of Portumna v Newtownshandrum and Salthill v St Gall’s. Absolutely baltic. My teeth chattered all through the football. I think the match report in the Times the following day spent the first 3 paragraphs trying to explain how cold it was before moving on to analyse the matches themselves.
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I was there, it was unnatural. I suppose being out in it for hours was the problem. I remember walking out behind the Cusack stand and just shaking for a minute with it
Tom Humphries. I’d say his teeth were chattering alright. If he was sitting behind a gang of young ones.
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The Westie klaxon sounded
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