The Biggest Stage Of Them All: Croke Park

Playing at Croke Park is a club player’s dream, but what can they expect when they get there?

It’s every player’s dream to play in Croke Park, and to play there with your club is probably the biggest buzz of all. You’ll rarely hear criticisms of games being taken to headquarters, although bizarrely one Camogie manager a few years back expressed his relief that a replay wouldn’t be played at the Jones’ Road venue. Something about the surface. Each to their own I suppose.

A Day out for Small Clubs

The AIB All Ireland Senior Club Finals throw in there tomorrow, St Patrick’s Day. Already this year junior and intermediate footballers and hurlers and Senior and Intermediate Camogie teams have battled out in Croke Park for All Ireland honours. The GAA and the Camogie Association have to be commended for giving smaller clubs their day in the sun and since the Holy Grail of an appearance at Croke Park is there for every championship winner it adds an undeniable lustre to proceedings.

To be fair underage players the length and breadth of the country have also featured there in annual club days and with Cumann na Bunscol, so when their big day comes the place will have a familiar ring to it.

Philip Jordan of Tyrone wrote the other day that people think Croke Park is a bigger pitch than other pitches but in fact it isn’t. Anyone who has been there as a coach or player will know the stadium has got its idiosyncrasies.

The pitch itself is generally in immaculate condition although one or two hurlers from the recent club finals said they thought it would be better. There must be some facilities where those lads train. The surface cambers off from the centre to the sideline, in other words the pitch is slightly high in the middle. Whether this makes a ball run off is a matter of opinion.

The Crossbar Myth True or False

According to Donal Óg Cusack the crossbars in Croker are higher than in any other pitch in the country. Six inches he claimed, and he also recalls how the Canal End crossbar in the old Croke park was six inches or so higher at one end than the other.

Standing in the Hill 16 goal in early afternoon the glare of the sun coming in over the Canal end means a keeper has the sun right in their eyes. This year it is the hurlers that will have that to cope with as the football is slated for a 4pm start.

There is also a tendency for the wind to gust down from the Hill 16 End along the Cusack stand, so the conditions can appear calm on the Hogan side but are blustery enough on the opposite side of the field. It can make shooting difficult enough.

The whole Croke Park experience can be daunting and which team can deal with the pressures best will have an advantage. I know of one girls’ team where a couple of the players were in tears of panic as the bus drove under the Cusack stand towards the dressing room.

Having won county championships, provincial championship and a hard fought semi final, the enormity of their achievement hit them as the dove into the bowels of the stadium. One player described the pre match nerves as terrifying, saying she felt like she was on a rollercoaster and couldn’t get off.

Other players relish these occasions. They bestride Croker like a colossus as if the old stadium was built for their personal use. These players won’t be distracted by the occasion, the looming imposing stands, lists of instructions, and the dos and don’ts sent out by the administrators. All necessary but part of the Croke Park trappings that mean it isn’t any other match or just any other day out no matter what anyone says.

Into the Dressing Room

When the players walk into those large, pristine dressing rooms, with the individual cubicles and the hangers; showers off to one side; individual rooms for management and the physio and the door leading to the indoor warm up area, they will be joining a privileged groups of club players that have been there before them. They can be sure about one thing: the time will fly and they may remember little or nothing about it until long afterwards, win, lose or draw.

When the time comes they will leave the dressing room, turn and emerge from the tunnel into the light and the biggest day of their club career to date. The roar from their supporters will leave a lump in their throat, A quick glance towards the stand will reveal a multitude of familiar faces, brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers. It can be hard to take in and still keep your focus.

Croke Park is a brilliant place to win, it is the cathedral of Gaelic games, but ironically the detachment from friends and family after the final whistle goes can be strange. Especially for players used to a pitch invasion by their neighbours and relations, back slapping and tousling heads.

We wish all the best to all the teams playing on Sunday, Slaughtneil, Ballyhale, Kilmallock and Corofin. Enjoy these occasions, they’re the days of your lives.