After being to the Munster hurling final last year it would seem right to get up to the Ulster final. That match last year wasn’t great, but the atmosphere beforehand was something to behold. I’d imagine Clones town is ‘carnival like’ and must be seen personally to experience.
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Joe Kernan was on with Shane Saint last year before it and painted some picture of Clones.
Its pretty much guaranteed to be a super close one point game again this year too.
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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.
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May well be onto ya about that parking spot. Coming in from Cavan side.
This was the place we used to park. Not sure if it’ll link here. McQuaid’s Auto Parts, 1.3km from the Diamond on the Cavan road. It used to be a VG shop and petrol station back in the day.
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Cheers pal 
There was a a lot of tickets on general sale for Donegal v Tyrone and almost none for Donegal v Derry. I’d say if you’re fast, you’ll get one.
Clones is a cunt, a stressfest, a streetfest and a dream all rolled into one. You feel every tackle and catch every ball. Worth the trip.
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Where would you be travelling from?
Up through Meath/Cavan.
Easier get ticket for Glasgow derby than Ulster final.
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I’m heading down to pick them up in the club tomorrow evening. Ridiculous scramble. Meant to be a fair few knocking about from the sponsors. I’d imagine you’d pick up one easy if you showed up on the day.
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Ah that’d drive me mad if I went up and didn’t get one. Sounds like it’ll be a terrific atmosphere.
Something special about a game when it’s hard to get a ticket.
Venue selection is something the GAA are terrible at. Ideally you want games to be sell outs.
But there’s a bizarre ideology in the GAA that games should be staged in grounds where there won’t be near a sell out on the basis of “everybody will be able to see the game”.
But what happens is the public knows that the bigger venue won’t go close to selling out, and therefore people are put off going because it won’t be an occasion, and the whole thing falls utterly flat.
Through chance the Clare v Kerry Munster football final this year ended up in Ennis, and it was miles better as an occasion than last year’s Clare v Kerry Munster final in Limerick.
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The funding for Casement should have went into Clones. No one ever mentions that.
The round robin format has thrown up Walsh Park as a venue, which for Munster Championship just ain’t big enough. But the Waterford - Tipp game last weekend looked like a savage occasion. In years past it would have been held in PUC or Thurles and sure they would have got another 5-10k in but it would have been a drab affair.
The prominence of the club game in the latter half of the year now adds another dimension to the topic. Knockdrumsleeve vs Rathlishdoon could have all the makings of an epic encounter but played out in the 40k capacity county ground makes it look like no one cares.
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That’s because it’s bullshit
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Clones is horrible. Everyone who’s ever been there hates it. Winning an ulster championship there is a joyless occasion. The best thing you can say about it is, that is is sheer relief at not being bate, it’s like a curse lifting, or surviving chemo. It’s like a snail crawling along the edge of a razor-the horror…the horror. There’s an impending sense of doom about the place.
That said, it was an excellent location to film ‘The Butcher Boy’.
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I get it’s a kip, but it’s pretty much the home of Ulster football… You’d rather go to Belfast for a game?
This isn’t about clones or Belfast. Casement is needed and will be built.
Anyway, Clones can’t even sort out a fucking field to park in or a route in or out of it to speak of. The man just told you it’s a shitheap of a venue and you still ignore it
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