First Big Game Memories

We all have one.....ure first time in Croker, ure first time in Clones/Semple/Killarney/Castlebar etc...

Have a very vague memory of being in Croker, cant have been more than 5 at a Dubs Wexford game. Remember looking at a wexford flag and laughing at the "silly colours"..quote..." I thought all the baddies wore green and yellow Mammy" !! And so it began.....

My initial Croke Park experience came on A/I day 1956 principally because of our participation in the Minor final. Notwithstanding the fact that we boasted 2 players who subsequently were on the Leitrim Millennium team in Josie Murray and Paddy Dolan, we were unhinged by a strong Dublin team, inspired by the peerless Des Foley. Even in those far off days Foley was being talked up as the coming man and it proved to be true.

Connacht pride was rescued by Galway in the Senior final when they overcame a fine Cork side for whom Paddy Harrington (Padraig's dad) excelled in the h/b line.
The Purcell/Stockwell axis was not, however, to be denied and receiving copious supply from Mattie McDonagh squeezed home with Stockwell's 2-5 (60 mins) being a record that lasted 20 years.

It's disquieting to note that with the exception of the Leitrim men mentioned all others are now sadly dead R.I.P.
One of the highlights of the weekend for me was the journey home which was made in comfort. The journey to the capital was made sharing every available inch of space with bags of turf for my aunts in the city.

Sad when they had to depend on "turf from home"

My first time in Croker was 1998 against Galway... unfortunately we were beat.

First match I can't really mind...Remember being in Maghera for Sam in 1993 but!

I honestly can't remember mine exactly but I remember going to the Railway Cup finals in the early 70s and they drew huge crowds. I remember falling and banging me head on the old wooden seats in the stand and I probably haven't been the same since.

First All Ireland I remember was 1978 I think - I was in the Canal Head getting soaked with the dye off the crepe hat running down me head. We were going well and then the wheels fell off. I think I cried and me Dad said 'Son take it on the chin - dry your tears - you're 36 FFS!!!'

No really - it was soul destroying for a young lad not long into his teens - never mind Paddy Cullen! I felt so sick that day that I made a vow that I have never broken to this day - NEVER buy three bars of chocolate for a quid and eat them all!!

My first football memories conviently came in the best year Monaghan ever had! - 1985. Was only 5/6 at the time and my earliest memory that I can place is the National League final in '85, only for it being such a big game I wouldn't have been able to place it years later. Can remember my da and uncle going clean mad, as were the surrounding fans of course! Can also remember the Ulster final and Kerry games vaguely, them being such big occassions just stuck with me I suppose. The two Kerry games are a bit mixed together in my memory, but one thing that sticks is how disappointed everyone was, so that part was obviously the replay!

mid-mon man wrote:My first football memories conviently came in the best year Monaghan ever had! - 1985. Was only 5/6 at the time and my earliest memory that I can place is the National League final in '85, only for it being such a big game I wouldn't have been able to place it years later. Can remember my da and uncle going clean mad, as were the surrounding fans of course! Can also remember the Ulster final and Kerry games vaguely, them being such big occassions just stuck with me I suppose. The two Kerry games are a bit mixed together in my memory, but one thing that sticks is how disappointed everyone was, so that part was obviously the replay!

I can still recall the free by Eamon McEneaney the first day V Kerry from about 55/60 yards out.
Quality kick under the most extreme pressure.

Unreal kick at the best of times, but under that pressure it's amazing. Pity I wasn't old enough to appreciate such a kick though!

my first big game was a connaught final back in 1996, sligo vs Mayo in the Hyde, i will never forgret that game or ever forgive Mayo.

sligo were rank outsiders we played well and came back to within a point of Mayo, when the ref blow the final whistle after just 19 seconds of injury time, anyway the Sligo fans where in a very good mood dispite losing it was the manner in which we lost that the fans where so happy about, i was 13 and i honestly was upset we lost i didnt care that we played well i wanted us and expected us to win so i was down,

then the old ******* from Mayo started mouthing off on our way out from the game, not the kids but the adults shouting and laughing saying it was a disgrace that Mayo only bet these shower of idiots by a point, and that they could not see Mayo going any further because it they can only beat these lot by a point they have no chance against a team who can actually play
football.

now i am sorry to mayo supporters but since that day i have mated the mayo team, sorry

sorry suppose to be hated not mated

rich dublin wrote: sorry suppose to be hated not mated

You can edit Rich!

Good story! Walked across the gravestones in Hyde to many a Connaught Final in the 70s/80s!

hahaha im not used to all these new age thecnological advances

ya 2007 though will never be forgotten greatest day of my life real it's what makes the GAA so speacial

rich dublin wrote:hahaha im not used to all these new age thecnological advances

ya 2007 though will never be forgotten greatest day of my life real it's what makes the GAA so speacial

There was a family of Sligo farming people lived up the road from me in Dublin - a mile out of city centre! - they farmed land in Margarets - great people and Dub/Sligo supporters but the lads got a great kick out of that win! It also did for Mickey Kearns & Co what BOD & ROG did for Jack Kyle!

very ture my good man, amazing win and you know it could be our year this year too lol

check this out tell me what you think

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hope it shows what it means to us in sligo

rich dublin wrote:very ture my good man, amazing win and you know it could be our year this year too lol

check this out tell me what you think

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hope it shows what it means to us in sligo

Great stuff Rich - great read! Brought back O'Hara's goal too - a great score!!

Guys this is an article Rich did which is now on RTE's website for posterity. Well worth a read.

lol, ya i had a lot of time on my hands back then did one for them last year too, was suppose to cover all Sligos championship matches, which i did, all one of them vs mayo ............................

Fair play rich, didn't realise it was you that did it at first, an excellent read.

I remember that day well myself, partly because I was thinking these Sligo feckers will have made Tyrone extra wary of the underdogs(if they weren't wary enough already)! I don't think there were going to be two massive underdogs winning provincial championships! Twas great to see Sligo win it though, wins like this show the provincial championship still means alot to most, and 32 years is an awful long time. We're coming up on that time ourselves with each year!

rich dublin wrote:my first big game was a connaught final back in 1996, sligo vs Mayo in the Hyde, i will never forgret that game or ever forgive Mayo.

sligo were rank outsiders we played well and came back to within a point of Mayo, when the ref blow the final whistle after just 19 seconds of injury time, anyway the Sligo fans where in a very good mood dispite losing it was the manner in which we lost that the fans where so happy about, i was 13 and i honestly was upset we lost i didnt care that we played well i wanted us and expected us to win so i was down,

then the old ******* from Mayo started mouthing off on our way out from the game, not the kids but the adults shouting and laughing saying it was a disgrace that Mayo only bet these shower of idiots by a point, and that they could not see Mayo going any further because it they can only beat these lot by a point they have no chance against a team who can actually play
football.

now i am sorry to mayo supporters but since that day i have mated the mayo team, sorry

I'm not calling you a liar or anything but I find it hard to believe the Sligo fans would put up with that IF it happened. Last year we were playing Sligo in McHale Park and the abuse from the Sligo fans was the worst I have ever witnessed in my life. One man beside me was drunk and a couple of young lads behind me were using the worst language I've ever heard in my life. They were also shouting obsenities at our fans and players. I'll never sit near Sligo fans in my life after that. So if anyone has agressive, unsportsman like supporters it's not Mayo but Sligo.

I'm more inclined to believe Rich .....

Believe who ya want but just remember.....I'm from MAYO and he's from SLIGO

I'm not lying though cause I don't. I'm just saying that the Sligo fans that day were a disgrace and it wasn't the first time I've seen them like that. I just think it's a bit funny that a Sligo fan is saying that about Mayo fans.

LilMaighEo wrote:Believe who ya want but just remember.....I'm from MAYO and he's from SLIGO

I'm not lying though cause I don't. I'm just saying that the Sligo fans that day were a disgrace and it wasn't the first time I've seen them like that. I just think it's a bit funny that a Sligo fan is saying that about Mayo fans.

Very good points. But I'm still more inclined to believe Rich....

Fine well I'm giving you the silent treatment until you backtrack on that statement.

LilMaighEo wrote:Fine well I'm giving you the silent treatment until you backtrack on that statement.

oh God have methinks i have injured the Dublin/mayo relationship even further

Lil, i will never forget it as long as i live. now im with a Mayo women, my mother is from Mayo and half my family are from Mayo some of my best friends are from Mayo, trust me i have no agenda with Mayo but seriously the Mayo fans are know the length of this country as being sour, now that is not all of them but trust me when you come from a lesser light, ye can be very condescending.

anyway lets not argue about it would be a shame from this board to descend into the same drivel as some other ones

I could never bring myself to that type of selective dislikes of other counties, hence I'm content with disliking the other 31.
You must start somewhere after all.

rich dublin wrote:oh God have methinks i have injured the Dublin/mayo relationship even further

Lil, i will never forget it as long as i live. now im with a Mayo women, my mother is from Mayo and half my family are from Mayo some of my best friends are from Mayo, trust me i have no agenda with Mayo but seriously the Mayo fans are know the length of this country as being sour, now that is not all of them but trust me when you come from a lesser light, ye can be very condescending.

anyway lets not argue about it would be a shame from this board to descend into the same drivel as some other ones

Ah no but I can't let you say that. Everybody knows that Mayo people are amd about the GAA and are the nicest people in Ireland. I know piles of people from Galway, Sligo and Roscommon that say Mayo have the most sportsmanlike fans so I'm sorry if I don't accept your opinion but I'm only telling the truth.

Also, gaatipster will turn into HS if you launch unprovoked attacks on another county's afns and call them f*****s.