Dublin Day 3

Had a sleep in and then got ready to go to the Hurling semi final at Croke Park. It is not raining today so it was an enjoyable walk to the ground. I crossed the Liffey at a different spot and walked along some different streets going towards the ground. Once I got to the northern end of O’Connell Street there were a lot of people heading towards the ground.

On the website when I purchased the ticket it said that the game starts at 2.00pm so I made sure I got there at 1.30 to pick up my ticket from the ticket office. I entered the ground to find that the two o’clock game was a youth semi final match which was being played. The game was for 30 minutes a half and the main game did not start till 3.30pm.

Once again I was close to the half way line in row Q. I was sitting close to the reserves enclosure where the seats are a bit different to T.G. Millner they are made by Recaro.

Hurling is an interesting game. It is played on the same size field as Gaelic Football. The same goalpost arrangement is used with scores counting if the ball goes either under or over the cross bar and has the same point value 3 points for under the cross bar and between the posts and one point if over the cross bar and between the posts.

The big difference is instead of using a soccer sized round ball and play with their hands and feet like in Gaelic football in Hurling you use a ball about three quarters the size of a cricket ball and use a stick like a hockey stick except with a large thickened end on it that is used like a paddle to scoop up the ball and hit it. The players are very skilled in the use of the stick and can hit the ball up to 80 metres.

Also different to yesterday were the sponsorship arrangements. Yesterday Guinness did not rate a mention in any way other than ground advertising. Today Guinness is mentioned in on the inside cover of the program and on the scoreboard in both general signage and as a commercial.

As both of today’s teams, Waterford and Tipperary, took the field for their warm ups the crowd went wild. There seemed to be a pretty equal amount of supporters for both teams.

An interesting addition is that both teams form up behind the band and do a lap of the ground before the game.

Then there was a minutes silence for past players who have passed away and the national anthem.

The game then got underway. It was interesting to watch and the crowd really got into the match.

At half time the match was tied at 10 points each although neither team had been able to score a 3 point goal. Once again the young children took the field at half time to play a demonstration match.

In the second half the teams continued to score single point goals until Waterford finally put a ball into the net for a three point goal. This bought a huge cheer from their supporters but even before they had settled down, Tipperary matched them by scoring their own three point goal. The game was very even throughout and it was not until Waterford scored some unanswered single point goals towards the end that they were able to win the match.

The final score being Waterford 1-20 (23 points) defeated Tipperary 1-18 (21 points)

After the match I walked back to the hotel via another route and visited a few new pubs again picking up some new coasters for the collection. I then went out for dinner and a walk around Temple Bar area and listened to some Irish music in a few bars before calling it a night. I am back off to the Guinness Storehouse tomorrow to have another walk through the exhibits and will look into the archives section again as they have some very interesting material to search through.

Collecting:

6 Beer coasters plus 1 Bulmers Cider coaster