It was the last weekend of summer. It was one that will live long in the memory.
Music fans flocked to Stradbally in County Laois for the Electric Picnic but their numbers were simply swept aside by those turning out to see the highest quality sport at Croke Park and the Gaelic Grounds.
Saturday’s Croke Park Classic was well named for the quality of the American Football on show, for the drama, entertainment and enthusiasm. 53,000 arrived at the stadium to be treated to a festival of sport and entertainment that started with the pre game show at 1pm, ran through to 5pm and went in the blink of an eye.
Perfect
The timing then was perfect for this not among the 36,000 in Limerick to huddle around their TV screens and watch the Gaelic Footballers of Kerry and Mayo put on a display that had grown men in rapture and twitter ablaze with urging of sports fans across England to tune in as well.
It was unfortunate that it went up against the rarity of a 6-3 Premier League shootout but it will still be interesting to see how Sky Sports viewing figures across Britain will have picked up in the latter stages of this year’s Championships.
On Sunday the attention switched back to the Capital where Donegal relived their 1992 demolition of Dublin as overwhelming favourites.
Time-lapse
The work done on preparing the pitch was incredible with barely a hint of the gridiron markings that had been removed overnight. The time-lapse video of the work put in by Alan Gallagher and the Croke Park team will be a big hit.
The work done on preparing Donegal tok place over a longer time frame but has sealed Jim McGuinness’ status as one of the great managers in football.
Dublin were unbackable and when taking a five point lead mid way through the first half it looked like the procession we were led to believe it would be.
Belief
But Donegal’s belief in themselves as a team is something to treasure. They put on a masterclass of defence and attack and made Dublin look pedestrian. It may not have registered as big a shock as Germany’s demolition of Brazil at the World Cup but in our own small world it was not dissimilar.
The excitement and anticipation now in the two furthest flung corners of the country ahead of the All Ireland Final on September 21st will be immense.
The domestic tourism value of not having Dublin in the final will be substantially higher, regardless of whether the trains run or not. Kerry will always find a way to get to a final and it’s likely that the whole of Donegal would walk to Dublin if that’s what it took and if that’s what Jim McGuinness asked them to do.
It was in short a great weekend to be alive and that is what sport can do to lift the spirit.
