About time too!
I’ve watched this game from a bar in Ballyconneelly, which was brilliant, but failing that this’ll do nicely watching from my own sofa instead.
What a game so far. Extra time about to start. More of this Auntie, please.
All Ireland hurling final on the BBC!!
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What a game, generally speaking, and what a fucking match this was. From Dublin myself but Clare by adoption. I watched it in a beach bar in Corfu (Ipsos) with my youngest and some of her friends. The atmosphere was astonishing even at this distance. Two Italian guys joined us who had never seen the game before. They picked a side each for fun and the young man who picked Cork was as passionate as any Cork-born supporter in the bar. It was amazing.
Brilliant wasn’t it! I just switched on the telly randomly to see what was on, and there it was – I had no idea it was being televised on the Beeb.
They kept saying that most of the audience in the UK would probably be seeing their first ever hurling match, which made me smile to myself and think back fondly to the numerous matches I’ve been lucky enough to watch on bar tellys or golf club tellys over the years while out on the west coast on holiday.
Once seen, never forgotten – it’s a fantastic sport. Way more entertaining than most team games. And I loved the last few minutes, urging the final whistle by telepathic means. Go Clare!
Maybe we can look forward to games from Ipsos or Italy in the near future?
Thanks VV. I’m back in Corfu town now so I can respond.
Dublin is a Gaelic football county by and large and I disliked it intensely growing up. I still think it lacks grace and skill. I knew very little about hurling and just assumed it was the ‘stick-fighting’ version of GF. Not so. Since I married a Clare woman and had three daughters who are passionate about hurling (and who know many of the players personally – this is an amateur sport so most of the players hold down regular jobs) I have grown to love it.
Here’s some
Magnificent.
They used to regularly show the All Ireland football and hurling finals in the 60s and 70s. Not sure when the practice died out; or, given the huge number of Irish families in the UK, why.
Here’s the 1968 final between Tipperary and Wexford with a wonderful commentary by the inimitable Micheal O’ Hehir, one of the greatest sports commentators from a decade positively ram packed with them
Roscommon is not a great hurling county – Nor sadly is it a partirculary good GAA football county
Scary pre-helmet era! Irish dentistry must have profited royally back then.
I was in the crowd, cheering for Cork, and it was possibly the best match I’ve ever been at. It was a rollercoaster.
ah, great stuff, glad it was a good one
wow, never knew they showed it in ’60s/’70s
Strewth, I’ve just realised that the final and both semis are on iPlayer, if anyone wonders what the fuss is about hurling. There are also the two semis for the Gaelic football available.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/b00d0c9j/the-championship
Bang this in and grab the lot:
get_iplayer –pid=b00d0c9j –pid-recursive
Last time I was Dublin, I suffered a dirty glass aftermath, either the 10th or the 12th, I am uncertain. I certainly hurled for the UK that night.
@retropath2
That 10th pint is a bastard right enough
Not sure if the BBC will be showing it as it’s not nearly as exciting as the hurling, but today is the GAA All Ireland football final between Galway and Armagh
Indeed, J. Tradition has given it pride of place in the GAA calendar but for me hurling is the much better game.
Did there was a terrific three-part doc on the history of hurling about five years back. Well worth hunting down
Roscommon has always been a bit rubbish at hurling so is more of a GAA town