Yes. I was at the Munster hurling final last year which was my second and it was great but the two Munster hurling finals I’ve attended have both been in Limerick. We all know the “real” Munster hurling finals are in Thurles.
Killarney for a Ye Olde Kerry v Cork Munster football final is the other occasion that I imagine completed the trio of great annual occasions. Unlikely we’ll ever get another one of them however, 2015 was the last.
Clones is a threatened species these days. Casement Park predictably seems to be running into more problems but you’d have to think Clones’s days are numbered and there won’t be many more of these games, maybe three or four.
It’s already not what what it was in terms of football importance and it has been shunted out of its traditional mid to late July time window, but it’s still there, and it’s a testament to what an occasion it is that it still sells out.
If you’ve ever been to the Slane concert and liked it, you’ll love Clones. The out of the way nature of the place and the effort it takes to get there is part of what makes it great. You wouldn’t want to be going there every week but the “one day in a year” thing also makes it. The traffic jams and the hassle of getting parking. Meself and me oul’ fella used to have a place on the Cavan side we’d always park, a garage. It was about a mile and a half out. We’d walk it in from there. You’d get a tingle in your spine as you passed Butlersbridge and started to get near on the windy road in.
Clones has the best “walk” to the stadium anywhere. Down the hill of Fermanagh Street to the Creighton Hotel at the bottom, then the ascent up the burger van lined hill, past the big church and its spire and the stadium comes into view.
I was on the old Hill once for the mudbath Ulster final of 1993, up towards the back. The players were like ants down below. The new (1994) terrace doesn’t go nearly as far back.
The decision to move the camera angle in 1994 to the Hill side was a travesty. The Hill dominates the place. The Hill is a paradox. If you’re not on the Hill, the view is incredible because you’re looking at the Hill and you think to yourself “I wish I was on the Hill”. But if you’re on the Hill the rest of the stadium looks relatively unimpressive though there is a good view of the Fermanagh hills in the distance.