IN THIS JOB, the Hogan Stand upper tier is our Croke Park home. The grey seated press area is the vantage point for GAA games. It’s rare to be watching elsewhere in the stadium.
On April 12th last, I was in the lower Cusack Stand for the All-Ireland colleges football final double-header. Cork’s Coláiste Choilm – my alma mater – against Dublin’s Scoil Aodhain in the curtain-raiser, Kerry’s PS Chorca Dhuibhne against Derry’s St Pat’s Maghera in the main show.
Time for a disclaimer. Ireland isn’t like the USA where thousands of people show devotion by following the sports teams of the establishments that educated them. I’d been at Coláiste Choilm’s games during the year – their Simcox Cup final in January when they won a cracking game that featured 36 scores and their All-Ireland semi-final in March when they pipped Galway’s Mountbellew by a point in Nenagh.
The manager John O’Shea is a club mate from Éire Óg in Cork and there were seven players from that club on the squad. But my attendance at the games was prompted – excuse the nepotism – by my younger brother Ronan being on the team. I was in good company. Shane McCarthy (brother of Daire) and Liam Murphy (brother of Denny) were other Ovens men in the same boat.
The venue increased the hype surrounding the game. 2014 was a year where the efforts of an Oklahoma singer to play in Croke Park sparked a fair bit of controversy. Lower-key days at the stadium didn’t attract the same coverage but for all the criticism that gets pelted at the GAA, their policy of opening their doors to occasions like schools finals has to be lauded.
The game itself was tight and tense. Glasnevin’s Scoil Aodháin were highly-rated and they bagged a goal inside the opening minutes. They were in front at half-time but Coláiste Choilm gradually reeled them in during the second-half. Declan Hyland was only on the pitch seconds as a substitute when he blasted home a brilliant goal after a surging run. Scoil Aodháin poured forward at the finish but Coláiste Choilm held on for a 1-11 to 1-10 win.
It was a surreal day. My mother started crying at the final whistle before remembering she’d to dash for a taxi to Dublin airport after having changed her flights for a pre-arranged holiday to Portugal to take in the game. My father’s staunch Tipperary support wavered notably as he revelled in a Cork football win. While myself and my sister’s celebrations were muted by the knowledge that an All-Ireland medal would always give Ronan the upper hand in future family arguments.
For Coláiste Choilm it was a milestone. There’s over a thousand students in the Ballincollig school and this was a day to cherish for students, teachers, families and the six clubs – Ballincollig, Éire Óg, Inniscarra, Ballinora, Kilmurry, Canovee – who supplied players.
It was the start of a marvellous 2014 for some of the players. Cian Kiely won a Cork senior medal with Ballincollig in October, a week before the Éire Óg players did likewise at intermediate level. Captain Sean O’Donoghue lined out for both Cork minor sides during the summer.
They savoured the post-match scenes, the celebrations at the Red Cow, the bus trip home and the long joyous night in the Éire Óg clubhouse. They were even kind enough to accept photo requests from everyone outside Croke Park. Éamonn Fitzmaurice’s brother-in-law saw the Kerry manager win the Hogan Cup with PS Chorca Dhuibhne later that afternoon and before that he got in for group photo.
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I’ll be primarily watching games again from the Upper Hogan Stand next year but can attest after last April that the view from the Lower Cusack isn’t bad.
