WITH CORK PREPARING to say farewell to Páirc Uí Chaoimh over the next nine days, Pa Cronin is hoping the last county game played at the ground will create his fondest memory.
The Rebel footballers will run the unique gauntlet from dressing room to pitch this weekend, but the grand finale will come on Sunday July 13 when the hurlers face Limerick in a rematch of last year’s Munster Senior Hurling Championship final.
“We’ve had some good days and some bad days there,” says the Rebels’ hurling captain.
“Standout memory, I suppose, was 2005: I was minor captain that day and we went to play Limerick actually and they were red-hot favourites that day and we beat them by nine points.
“Coming up to senior with my club in 2006 from intermediate was on that pitch as well so winning that county was another massive achievement.”
New stadia often remove some of the mystique surrounding a team’s traditional stronghold and all of that may well lie in store for Cork’s future. But for the next two weekends, Kerry footballers and Limerick hurlers will have to come through the uncomfortable confines of the away changing room to face a Cork side who will no doubt take inspiration from the cramped spaces and hard edges.
“We’re down there to train there most nights – the dressing-rooms were designed off of soccer dressing-rooms.
“There is something special about it, it’s so run-down. There’s three showers there at a time so the queue is unreal. As I said, it’s really bog-standard basic but there is something special.”
“Especially for big games like this. coming out of the tunnel and everyone is there, it’s a nice way to enter the pitch.”
“I remember playing some Championship games and there was probably too many tickets sold and you had the fans nearly on the sideline against Tipp, which you wouldn’t have seen since the 70s or 80s.
“I don’t know [if] can they replicate it. I know it’s falling down and all that but there is something special about the place.
Along with the facilities, there is much speculation over the condition of the pitch underneath the rickety stands. However, after Shane Dowling called the turf ‘beautiful’ earlier this week, Cronin was another eager man to avoid excused under foot.
“Everyone knows, the facilities aren’t great and the dressing rooms are brutal and all that but the pitch is immaculate. It’s incredible compared to Thurles, it’s better than Thurles, it’s up there with Croke Park in my opinion – it’s a massive pitch, never been in bad condition and I’m sure it will be unreal for Sunday week.”
“The buzz around the place is unreal at the moment for tickets and things like that. So it would be unbelievable to win it.”
Liberty Insurance are delighted to be the first joint sponsor of both the GAA Hurling All Ireland Senior Championship and the Camogie Championships.
Ain’t gonna happen anytime soon, unless they decide to match him up with Frankie in a number one contenders match and the winner fights him at UFC 200.
But that would really piss Edgar off, which would be hilarious actually.
I’m staying otta this one…
Aldo isn’t gracious in defeat, on the night or now and he’s still making excuses and threats to the UFC and McGregor. Let him stew.
A guy who’s undefeated for 10 years and champion as long as he is deserves a rematch. He got caught with one shot and knocked out, it happens in fights. The disrespect he is shown from Irish fans is embarrassing to be honest. If McGregor gets tagged in his first defence at 145 ye would all be screaming for an immediate rematch.
I agree Alan 100%. I’m delighted for Conor but Jose was a great champion and does deserve his rematch.
As much as there’s a McGregor bandwagon, theres also a big anti-Mcgregor bandwagon, who will latch onto half truths about his opponents… Aldo was a champion for 10 years becuase he fought in a weight class with very few other fighters for the first 5 and for the last 5 he barely ever fought… when was the last time he knocked anyone out? He was massively fussy about who he would fight, always picking fighters who were well below his ability and dodging the hard match ups. If truth be told, Conor was the first striking test he ever really faced in the UFC… He doesn’t deserve an immediate rematch because he has a history of pulling out of fights that didnt suit him.
So Ken Flo, Korean Zombie, Edgar were not hard match ups? Hominick took him to the brink as well. A great champ, and the only champ at 145. If Cain, Anderson etc get an immediate rematch, so should he
In fairness,who does he think he is,sayin he’s not goin to fight anyone else.he only fights once a yr anyway.think he’s still concussed after McGregor got a hold of him
UFC spent 18 months promoting Aldo vs McGregor. It would be very hard for them to promote it again for another 6 months after how the last fight finished. Especially as Aldo had no interest in promoting the 1st fight and left Mcgregor to do all the media work. As White said,aldo deserves a rematch after being such a dominant champion but the timing for that rematch wouldnt be right now. Let Mcgregor fight RDA and then he can fight Aldo/Edgar at UFC200 in july,but either way 1 of them aint gonna be happy.
It’s not surprising to be honest. Dana White is all about the $, he couldn’t give a toss about who deserves a rematch or who is next in line, whatever fight makes the most cash for the ufc ( ie. him and his business partners) is the fight that will be made. Hope mcgregor demands he gets his fair share, he pulls in way more ppv numbers then a lot of boxers but gets paid alot less then some of them.
He’s gotten his arse handed to him in record time already, is that not enough
One mistake in 10 years? Is that not a reason to give him another shot? Even after the first fight when they were waiting on the official announcement Conor himself was man enough to say they could do it again.
I think Dana is right though. Woukd be hard to promote that. It’s the fight game yes but equally ufc want to make money. The interest for that just isn’t there after last time. Maybe a year down the road might be better for all involved..