The pitch still has visible marks from the new surface being put down, the local residents are still bleating about the upheaval caused during the week to their daily routines, but today Croke Park gets back to its roots.
Bono and the Claw have upped and left (Gothenburg last night, Gelsenkirchen tomorrow night), but today’s audio entertainment will have a deferential nod towards last week, with Larry Mullen’s old music buddies, the Artane Boys Band back in charge.
Yet it’s a football feast on the pitch which is of most concern, with two intriguing All-Ireland quarter-finals down for decision.
The curtain-raiser at 2pm sees Cork face off in Donegal while at 4pm the main event takes place between Tyrone and Kildare.
The team news sees Anthony Lynch lose his battle with a groin injury for Cork while James Masters is also omitted from the starting fifteen. Aghada’s Kieran O’Connor comes into the defence while attacking prodigy Colm O’Neill makes his first senior championship start.
Donegal are unchanged, while Kildare draft in Eamonn O’Callaghan and Gary White in place of Ken Donnelly and cruciate victim Mikey Conway. It’s just the one change for Mickey Harte’s Tyrone side with Pascal McConnell getting the nod in goal as John Devine is out with a dislocated shoulder.
With a Munster trophy in the boot, Cork will start favourites but they were below-par in that provincial final defeat of Limerick and have been in cold storage for the last four weeks.
Wicked whispers have painted a caricature of Donegal as a group of footballers who down their pints in the dressing-room before cheerfully staggering onto the pitch, but that conceals the serious momentum that they have built up with recent wins over Derry and Galway.
The All-Ireland champions Tyrone have looked irrepressible in marching through their local domain in Ulster but Kildare have undergone a seismic rate of improvement this year. And in Armagh man Kieran McGeeney, they’ll have a manager who’ll be ferociously driven to beat the Red Hands. Cork and Tyrone start as favourites but Conor Counihan and Mickey Harte will be wary of this afternoon’s assignments.
Last weekend saw Croke Park packed to the rafters and tomorrow over 80,000 punters will be shoehorned in as well for the Dublin-Kerry showdown, but today will see a more modest attendance. A crowd of around 40,000 has been predicted by GAA chiefs but the decision to close Hill 16 has generated some grumblings, with stand tickets going for €35 a pop.
It’s an overcast day in Dublin but there’s a keen sense of anticipation about. The All-Ireland SFC is now reaching its gamebreaking stage and this could be a defining afternoon. For the record, my crystal ball reckons it’ll be a Cork v Tyrone semi-final.
CORK: A Quirke; R Carey, M Shields K O’Connor; N O'Leary, G Canty, J Miskella; A O'Connor, N Murphy; P Kerrigan, P O'Neill, P Kelly; D Goulding, C O’Neill, D O'Connor.
DONEGAL: M Boyle; F McGlynn, N McGee, K Lacey; B Dunnion, B Monaghan, E McGee; B Boyle, K Cassidy; R Kavanagh, B Roper, L McLoone; C Dunne, M Murphy, C McFadden.
TYRONE: P McConnell; PJ Quinn, Justin McMahon, R McMenamin; D Harte, C Gormley, P Jordan; K Hughes, S Cavanagh; B Dooher, T McGuigan, Joe McMahon; M Penrose, S O'Neill, O Mulligan.
KILDARE: T Corley; E Bolton, H McGrillen, M Foley; M O'Flaherty, B Flanagan, G White; D Flynn; D Earley; J Kavanagh; P O'Neill; R Sweeney; E Callaghan, A Smith, J Doyle.
