When Croke Park opened its doors to the oval office
GAA HQ has hosted 15 rugby games – here, we revisit the highs and the lows
CrokeParkembracesrugby for the first time in 14 years this Saturday when the northside cathedral will once more show the world it is truly the national stadium. Leinster rugby’s move there may have hinged initially on competition bureaucracy but the surge of support –this European semi-final sold out in hours – ensures that this renewed love affair between the two codes will linger.
It is conceivable that three of the largest attendances in Croke Park this year could involve rugby as Leinster plot trophy hunts on two fronts.
And they will be there next year too, occasionally; the potential novelty of a festive occasion under lights against Munster is a live possibility, a re-run of their 2009 fixture, although it could even happen within weeks should URC results conspire.
Saturday will confirm to so many Gaels the sense that the GAA has not only ceded, quite literally, its own territory but also the apparently wanton disregard for the promotion of its own spectacular championships.
But more unites the codes than divides them. Blackrock College alumnus Joe McCarthy will form another chain in an enduring historical link; Michael Cusack was also a fine forward from that storied school of sport.
Indeed, some history buffs of a romantic hue like to draw a line through William Webb Ellis deciding to pick up a ball and the development of ‘caid’ throughout Ireland; nonsense, of course, but quaintly so.
For what is sport but a foundry for myth and legend? As rugby’s previous excursions north of the Liffey remind us, the prospect of gripping, colourful drama promises to enthral.
Clerc closes opening day, February 11, 2007, Ireland 17 France 20
An opening day drenched in political and sporting symbolism concluded with a FrenchGrimReaperbreakingIrishhearts.
On the final day of the 2007 Six Nations, a late French try denied Ireland a first championship of the professional era; the damage had earlier been wrought by a familiar figure on unfamiliar terrain.
Vincent Clerc later told me he cried during the Irish anthem; the entire stadium emptied its tears when he zig-zagged to claim his late theft.
“Obviously it’s my best memory with the French team,” he said after his side cancelled out Ronan O’Gara’s 77th-minute lead penalty.
History boys repel English invasion, February 24, 2007, Ireland 43 England 13
If opening day was totemic, this was truly historic. Before a ball was kicked, it was as if 81,611 people held their breath for 800 years in those anxious seconds before the last bar of God Save the Queen.
The momentary silence, then blessedly polite, soon welcoming applause, washed away a thousand traumas; John Hayes’ pre-match tears a cleansing of so many souls.
And then, in an almost perfect display of sporting symmetry, the English visitors were cast aside on a surf of targeted physical and emotional fury.
A try from Shane Horgan, once a Gaelic footballer in Meath, served as an apt symbol; skyscraping like a midfielder to collect an O’Gara kick to the skies, then dotting down, some say, almost on the spot where Michael Hogan had been killed on Bloody Sunday in 1920.
Power cut as Irish lack spark, February 2, 2008, Ireland 16 Italy 11
Ireland’s first home appearance since a calamitous World Cup misadventure offered thinly disguised portents; the side were drifting listlessly, within months their coach, Eddie O’Sullivan, would be cast aside.
When Italy scored a second-half try to narrow the margin to just five, a power cut complicated the arduous TMO award in front of a reduced 75,000 capacity; seats were required on the Hill for a soccer game four days later.
Skipper Sergio Parisse was awarded the score but later claimed Marco Castrogiovanni had scored; in the fretful Irish coaching box, all links to TV replays and match officials had been compromised by a power cut.
The technological gremlins were an apt, unwanted visitor to a side slowly losing all connection with each other. A cold day when almost all the lights went out on Irish rugby.
All light on the night, February 23, 2008, Ireland 34 Scotland 13
The Jocks could always guarantee some relief and so it proved once more as Croke Park bathed its new sport’s visitors beneath floodlights for the first time; a year earlier, Dublin and Tyrone had held the honour of christening them.
Tries from David Wallace, Rob Kearney, his first in green, Marcus Horan and two from the recalled Tommy Bowe secured a comfortable win to stem the rot.
The Irish had rediscovered their spark, a rejuvenated Geordan Murphy the most luminous presence of them all.
Like the Italian game, however, the atmosphere was muted in the stands as unexpectedly easy victory followed an unexpectedly difficult one. The next day would be different.
Welsh Triple Crown, March 8, 2008, Ireland 12 Wales 16
In a pig of a game, Ireland’s limited gameplan was exposed as Warren Gatland avenged his former assistant O’Sullivan, at once hastening the latter towards the trap door.
Shane Horgan was held up at 6-0; Wales immediately responded for 6-3 and grew in confidence as Ireland wilted, and lost Brian O’Driscoll to a hamstring injury.
“They didn’t show much did they?” spat chippy, chirpy Welsh scrum-half Mike Phillips.
The modern gripes about atmosphere were not as commonplace 16 years ago but, once more, the stands were muted, save the occasionally soaring arias emanating from the temporary exiles from the Valleys.
Kearney (21) delivered an outstanding display at full-back, secure in all he did despite a blinding sun and bewitching wind.
All Black autumn day out, November 15, 2008, Ireland 3 New Zealand 22
A reminder of an era when Ireland could only dream of victory against New Zealand, 73 years after Donegal’s Dave Gallaher first visited with the All Blacks.
There was a new coach – Declan Kidney – but a familiar result in this fixture as the haka was unfurled at GAA HQ, the most spectacular set of hoofers since Riverdance helped open the Special Olympics five years earlier.
Ronan O’Gara was charged down after 20 seconds and his day nosedived, like so many others.
The best atmosphere since the English game produced the worst display; the crowd streamed for the exits long before the final knockings.
Argie Bargy secures World Cup boost, November 22, 2008, Ireland 17 Argentina 3
Another prompt that these were different times; Argentina, ranked fourth in the world, were seeking to repeat their 2007 World Cup romp and demote the Irish to the third-ranked group of seeds for the 2011 edition.
O’Gara claimed in the build-up that Ireland’s self-belief was at its lowest point; he had had a stinker the week before; player and team needed to deliver.
They provided a result, if not a performance; with only 68,000 turning up, thousands voted with their feet.
“They’re angry little Argies,” observed Kearney after an ugly, spiteful affair which ended up like a particularly ill-matched Irish wedding between bickering dynasties.
“There will be revenge,” muttered Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe of a rivalry nobody wished to contemplate for many years to come.
Apres la pluie, le beau temps, February 7, 2009, Ireland 30 France 21
A measure of revenge – served on a bitterly cold evening – after the Clerc catastrophe that had opened Ireland’s brief affair with the Croker cathedral.
“Don’t get carried away,” warned Kidney as “little old Ireland” trumped the French. Two years before they ended the Six Nations seconds away from a title; this time around they would claim a Slam in the final moments.
For now, a thrilling contest – France ran almost everything – hinted at the historic landmark to come two months later in Cardiff, as Kidney’s side finally clicked.
O’Driscoll’s stunning try personified a squad finding their mojo; Jamie Heaslip’s was even better; where the captain led, everyone would follow; a restored Gordon D’Arcy another highlight. And the 77,023 crowd lapped it all up.
Elation once again, February 28, 2009, Ireland 14 England 13
O’Driscoll soared beyond the morass, beauty and brutality joyfully married. Today, he would not have been allowed to finish such was the damage inflicted upon his head.
The punters’ heads were spinning, too, following the ball from left to right as it pinged through the air; it seemed as if they were watching Wimbledon. For fans of soccer, it was as if England were playing like Wimbledon.
The crowd were muted but occasionally – obligatory anthemic roar when John Hayes appeared on the screen – roused.
The rugby seemed like it was from the dark 1980s and so did the songs; was this the first time we heard the full-throated Molly Malone?
Two Tribes Take Two, May 2, 2009, Munster 6 Leinster 25
A world-record attendance of 82,208 for a club game witnessed revenge tangled up in blue as the red tide were becalmed.
Leinster claimed the spoils and, unlike the Lansdowne Road debacle three years earlier, retained all of their tickets. A truly stunning, colourful, raucous day.
“Come on you boys in blue,” rang out and not a Dubs jersey in sight. It was Jonathan Sexton’s coming of age – and rage – as he roared at his future nemesis O’Gara.
There was as much drama after the game; in the stadium bowels, Leinster captain Leo Cullen attempting to deflect the damage wrought by Munster flanker Alan Quinlan’s reckless hands.
His bruised eyes told a different tale; luckless Quinlan’s subsequent ban cost him his only Lions tour.
‘The English visitors were cast aside on a surf of targeted physical and emotional fury’
O’Driscoll’s late intercept of O’Gara’s pass and dash to the line neatly countered the latter’s gleeful glide three years earlier.
Ireland draw comfort as Drico delivers in 100th Test, November 15, 2009, Ireland 20 Australia 20
After a Grand Slam achieved with limited, if winning rugby, a different Ireland were unfurled in less pressurised autumnal fare.
Fittingly, they seized the shared spoils late on with an attacking flourish, O’Driscoll fittingly sashaying home for a decisive late score in his 100th Test match, and 94th for his country.
“If it had to be anyone, it had to be him,” said a laconic Rocky Elsom, a hero in Leinster blue months earlier.
A 3pm Sunday kick-off was not primed for beer guzzlers but 69,688 fans found their voice late on as Ireland pushed for the leveller, with Cian Healy dazzling on his debut.
Sexton ticks the Boks, November 28, 2009, Ireland 15 South Africa 10
A bitterly cold, foggy Saturday afternoon but Ireland didn’t lose their way in the pea-souper.
And the emergence of a new Ireland rugby star, Sexton, helped to guide his team to another notable success to end a stellar year.
“I don’t think we’ve ever played a tougher match than that,” said another tyro, Kearney. His Leinster mucker Seán O’Brien would announce his credentials too.
“When people come to our patch,” said O’Driscoll of their now comforting, if temporary home, “we don’t get pushed around.”
Ireland’s champions stutter, February 6, 2010, Ireland 29 Italy 11
After a half-hour, Ireland had secured the win, leading by 20 points but thereafter little happened until the final whistle signified an 18-point victory.
Groans and grumbles from the crowd spilled from the soporific stands upon the torpid turf as Kidney’s men struggled to recapture their 2009 form.
The small pocket of noisy Italians created the best moments on a day more like Somme warfare than Mardi Gras.
“We were a bit all over the place,” Heaslip admitted. Kearney had his poorest game but for debutant Kevin McLaughlin, it was unforgettable.
“The supporters on the streets, then the anthems. Magical.”
Drico’s 100, March 13, 2010, Ireland 27 Wales 12
O’Driscoll won his 100th Ireland cap as this keenest of rivalries delivered a triumph in green and a shot at silverware, even if results elsewhere seemed to indicate the championship defence was now dormant.
Croke Park saluted O’Driscoll, who admitted to being genuinely overcome emotionally by the plaudits. Tomás O’Leary would dominate the day.
Despite the scoreline, there was an element of backs to the wall about this, Ireland making twice as many tackles and spending half of the second act in their own territory.
It was poor fare. “Watching that s***e would turn anyone to drink?” remarked a disgruntled passer-by clutching an €85 ticket stub. Irish rugby had entered its era of high expectations.
Croker choker, March 20, 2010, Ireland 20 Scotland 23
Kidney’s 11 Lions faltered against Scotland’s two; Sexton missed a host of kicks, Rory Best a scattering of throws, Ireland a golden chance.
And so rugby’s international journey was bookended with defeat, this costing the side their only chance to claim silverware at GAA HQ.
“We got it wrong,” lamented Kidney as Dan Parks slotted a gut-wrenching winning kick to seize the final day. Boos rained down on him; the new Irish rugby fandom had made its mark.
And on Sexton too, before being hauled off, given the rough treatment by some in the crowd. The choreography “didn’t look nice”, admitted Kidney. Sexton’s time would come.
As some players hinted, the hype of the last Croker occasion may have affected them.