Ronan’s magical day in Croke Park
RONAN O’BOYLE, Kilcoole Primary School, was awarded the opportunity to represent Wicklow in the half-time games in Croke Park this summer. This is his account of the day:
On July 29, at 9.45am in the morning, I grabbed my two hurleys, my kit bag and my helmet and headed off for Croke Park. Just the day before, I had been at Croke Park for the Clare v. Galway semi-final.
I was surprised I wasn’t nervous, but I was very excited.
Even though it was still early as we got near the stadium you could see it was going to be a big day. At about 10.40am my Dad and I arrived at the local community centre.
At about 11.20am we grabbed our gear and set off on the short walk to Croke Park. We entered the stadium through a side entrance for TV coverage trucks.
We passed the Senior and Minor dressing rooms before we got to our own.
Before we went in, our jerseys had been hung up on the hook so all we had to do was find our number. I was number 11 for Cork. After we changed into our gear we went for a bite to eat. We had chicken and chips (I know; very healthy!) before we headed to the Davin Stand to watch the minor semi-final, Tipperary against Kilkenny.
Before I knew it we were sprinting onto the field while a crowd of over 70,000 people cheered us on. The 12.5 minutes flew by and during that time I scored two points. We returned to the stand and enjoyed the rest of the match.
July 29, 2018, was definitely a day to remember!