THERE MAY HAVE been calls from some quarters to switch the Ulster final battle of Donegal and Tyrone to Croke Park to cater for a larger crowd but one of Donegal’s players is pleased that the fixture will not leave the province.
The weekend’s semi-final replay wins for Donegal and Tyrone has thrown up an eye-catching pairing for the Ulster decider.
With high interest in the game, Sunday Game pundit Ciaran Whelan suggested that both teams would like to play it in Croke Park and that the bigger capacity at the stadium would cater for the interest amongst neutrals.
But Donegal’s Martin McElhinney is happy the game will not be swtiched.
“There was some talk about making it a double header in Croke Park but I wouldn’t want to bring it here.
“The close proximity of the crowd in Cavan (for Saturday night v Monaghan) – the fans were in on top of you – creates a real atmosphere, whereas if you bring it here it might lose that.
“At the end of the day we’re all from Ulster and we want to play our big games in Ulster. There was no discussion about it at all, it was never mentioned, but I don’t think it’s a runner.
“If you want to play in an Ulster final, you want to play it in Clones. It’s a great day out in Clones and it’s a serious pitch and we love nothing better than driving into Clones on a Sunday for an Ulster final.”
The Ulster finals of 2004, 2005 and 2006 were all held in Croke Park with Donegal contesting the 2004 and 2006 deciders against Armagh.
McElhinney played in the 2006 curtain-raiser for the Donegal minor side against Antrim.
“I was actually playing in the Ulster minor final the same day as the Ulster final against Armagh. It was a great achievement for us because we were minors and there was a great buzz with the Donegal senior team and supporters and that.
“I think it had to go that time because the crowd couldn’t hold it in Clones but I don’t think it would be right to move them now.”
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Wouldn’t be fair to the fans. They’d be doubling/trebling their journey & adding significant cost that goes with that.
Like the gaa ever cares about fans the replay wasn’t even on tv because of their sky contract.
Not every game can or should be televised Get off the couch and go to the match if you are so bothered.
Nothing wrong with neutrals being allowed to watch their national sports, fair enough if you’re a fan from the county then you prob should support your team
No the replay was not on to because both the Leinster hurling final and Munster football final were on at the same time. The Ulster council scheduled the replay to lash with 2 provincial finals both being televised all ready
Ya wot?! The replay was on Saturday night ya numty
Oops getting my days and games confused sorry! Probably should have lunch before posting
They weren’t exactly spoiled for choice, Cavan and Monaghan both have to play their qualifier games this Saturday.
Love the way you put in probably should have had my lunch so people will take the excuse
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Hardly doubling or trebling the journey time – at least not for those in Donegal. As an example – Letterkenny to Dublin takes less than 3 hrs, while Letterkenny to Clones takes about 2. And public transport options to Dublin are way better, plus there are a fair few people from both counties living in Dublin anyway.
Still though, I agree it’s better to keep it in Ulster.
It would be a shame to move it from Clones. The atmosphere through the streets on the way up the hill is great craic. If anyone is free on the 17th it should be a great day out.
Sure if Clones didn’t have the Ulster final it might as well give up altogether. There not exactly much else happening there from one end of the year to the other.
Clones deserve to have it at home. Croke park gets everything. Fans having to travel so far.I hope they plan it well and make a big festival day out of it.
the gaa need two about 50.000 stadiums outside of leinster to host semi finals make going to croke park something special
Who will fund these stadiums?
So the GAA should build two 50k seater stadiums just to hold 2 semi finals a year.
45’000 in Thurlus, 42′ooo in Limerick, new 45’000 in cork, 38,000 in Castelbar all of which are rarely full
Jays you’re all over the gaff with misinformation today, semple stadium holds 53,000 thank you very much
Ah no lads delvin wants two brand spanking new stadiums to play two games a year in it makes perfect sense
Like I said hungry all sorted now hopefully
Grab a sneakers, you’re not yourself when you’re hungry
all provincial finals should be played their provinces if i my way i would also only have lienster final dublin matches and all ireland final in croke park i mean its too big achievement to play in croke park anymore
Ulster is the most competitive provincial championship in the country for the last 20 years or so. It would be wrong if they had to host their final in Dublin. If Clones is unsuitable, how has this not been flagged sooner. Did the GAA think that Donegal and Tyrone wouldn’t meet in a final?
Crazy that you can’t get to one of the biggest games of the year from the capital city by public transport.
Can’t wait for Casement Park to start hosting finals. At least there’ll be decent accommodation so you can make a weekend of it.
Decent accommodate at some price. Have you ever tried to book a hotel in Belfast. It more expensive than Dublin.
I’d rather pay money for a decent hotel than be ripped off in an out-dated hole.
There’s also plenty of hostel options in Belfast. Don’t see any within a taxi ride if clones.
Agree Peter, looking forward to casement park as well, will be good to see big games in Belfast, the second city of the island
Hostel. Can’t see that be an attractive option for anyone over the age of 25.
“Calls from from some quarters” …. Ciaran Whelan from DUBLIN why he has an opinion I’ve no idea… and a few Tyrone lads that want to go on the piss in Belfast… There’s more to the Ulster Final than that..
As somebody who served on the local authority in clones I can tell you that the ulster final means the difference between profit and loss for some small businesses in the town it’s always been the home of the ulster final and the corporate cartel within the GAA shouldn’t be allowed to take away the ulster final from its rightful home
Stay out of that Shite hole of a place if the hotels won’t rob you someone else will better chance of getting shot in Dublin then the North .
Wayyy better chance
Attendences in munster and leinster bar dublin are poor yet they have large stadiums. Why dont they build a decent capacity stadium in ulster.
Clones holds 36k. That’s big enough for a provincial ground. No need to waste money on a ground that will only be filled potentially for 1 game a year.