Day 10
It was an early start but a great one. I had made sandwiches the night before and we had bought loads of treats for our journey up to Dublin. Yes, we were heading to the biggest game of the year so far MAYO vs KERRY!! Grandad had surprised us with tickets and it was decided that we’d all go up in ‘the shed’ now back to being ‘the van’.
Grandad said we had to go up to Knock first for 9 o’clock mass. Tom was delighted, Granny swears he’ll be a priest when he’s older. It was a lovely morning and mass was very nice.
The priest made a special mention about the game and wished all travelling a safe trip. The boys and me were wearing our kit.
It was now ten-to-ten, cowboy time!!
Grandad had control of the music and put on “and we’re all off to Dublin”. Granny sat in the back with us and everyone was heading east. The number of cars were incredible. Then the rain started and so did the traffic jams.
If felt like forever, we just wanted to get there already!! We stopped at an Applegreen services and you’d swear there was no one left in Mayo, it was a sea of Green & Red, getting their snacks, subways, ice cream’s, coffee’s, everyone knew someone and they were all talking about the game. Of course, Grandad met people he knew but because of his 3 second memory couldn’t think of any names. It’s a standing joke!!
Back on the road and more traffic, it was such a long journey but we could see Croke Park now and we were fit to burst with excitement. Grandad as we all know has a bad knee, yes still, so we needed to find a good spot to park. The rain was bad and the guy at the carpark said it was up to ourselves if we want to park on the grass, we didn’t care if we got stuck we just wanted to get to the game.
We met with the Murphy’s and had a Granny & Ann quick drink then headed into the stadium. It was so amazing. We got our seats which thankfully were under cover. Granny & Grandad had other seats so they went off to theirs. Little did we know at the time they were not under cover and in Granny’s words it was lashing.
The team came out, the roars were just deafening. On the big screen, there was a dedication to an old footballer who had passed away then they did another one, it was for a 21-year-old man who had been murdered in Swinford the week before. He plays for a Gaelic team in St Albans and I know the team and play against the under 14 girls team. It was so sad and they both got a round of applause. He was a massive Mayo fan too.
The game started, Tom & Harry were off their seats, it was so good. Mayo scored and everyone around us was cheering, but mostly swearing. Tom asked if you could swear too but even on this occasion Mum said no. The first half ended so fast, we seen Granny & Grandad walk up the stairs from the very wet seats, we all laughed out loud, much to Granny’s annoyance. Mum said her and Tom would go to their seats for the second half, they nearly ate her hand for the swap.
Second half was just as fast and Granny couldn’t watch. The language hadn’t changed either and most of it was coming now coming from them.
Draw!!!!
It was all over and the place cleared in seconds. We headed back to the van and mum opened up the wine and we ate our sandwiches. The traffic was crazy so we waited a while and then headed back to Mayo.
Poor Grandad drove the whole journey and we even stopped once for chips but the queues were so bad that we headed off again, not before Granny bought more wine
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Are you Shore?? 