Eimear Ryan: Even in New York, there’s no show like a Croker show
SPECTACLE: The teams on parade before the GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Championship Final. Photo by Ray McManus/Sportsfile
SATURDAY July 16 in New York. It’s the eve of the All-Ireland hurling final, and I’m headed to an unusual curtain-raiser, on a packed 4 train uptown to Yankee Stadium. Almost everyone else on the train is wearing a white pinstriped baseball jersey. On the backs are the names of current Yankees stars like Stanton, Rizzo and Judge, but also Jeter, Mantle, Ruth – the legends of yesteryear.
Yankee Stadium can hold almost 50,000 punters and it’s a full house tonight. We’re up on the fourth level and I’m reminded, instantly, of the top tier in the Cusack Stand – the nosebleed section, from which the players look like Subbuteo figurines on the grass below.
We’re outwardly neutral but in our hearts we’re probably rooting for the Red Sox. They may have won three further World Series titles since breaking the Curse of the Bambino in 2004, but the Sox still have big underdog energy.
Suddenly everyone is standing, placing their right hands over their hearts. The national anthem is played before the game, which surprises me. Just like home, I think. When you are a hurling person, you can’t help but constantly compare every sporting culture to the GAA. But this is the great American pastime, and we’re here mostly to observe. To soak it all in.
And of course, there are aspects that are very different from hurling. With a cupholder at every seat and buckets of popcorn and fried chicken available from concession stands, it’s more like being at the cinema in some respects than at a sporting event. The stadium itself is hilariously biased towards the Yankees, to the point where they only show Yankees action replays on the big screen and gleefully announce whenever a Red Sox batter is on strike 2. And hurlers are safe in the knowledge, extra time notwithstanding, that they’ll have their result and know their fate within 90 minutes of the ball being thrown in. No one knows how long nine innings is going to take.
In the end, the Red Sox are soundly beaten 14-1. The unlikely hero of the evening is Matt Carpenter, a 36-year-old with a Tom Selleck moustache who, up until May of this year, was playing minor league baseball with the Texas Rangers. Despite only being with the Yankees for a few months, he is already in the shakeup for MVP. He hits two home runs on the night, each time bringing with him two teammates who are standing on the bases. ‘Go Moustache!’ shouts a fan in the row behind me. As we leave the stadium, ‘New York, New York’ – the Sinatra version – erupts over the speakers.
Sunday 17 July: The All-Ireland hurling final. Coverage starts 9am EST, throw-in at 10.30am. A rousing start to the day. What I wouldn’t give to be in Croke Park, but RTÉ’s fancy new drone cameras – which Marty Morrissey is taking obvious delight in – certainly enhances the TV-watching experience. Limerick in search of a three-in-a-row, or a threepeat as we say on this side of the pond; Kilkenny, peaking at exactly the right time, with both their young players and threepeat veterans – TJ and Richie – showing incredible form.
If there’s an underdog between them, it’s Kilkenny, though this mantle has never felt quite right for the cats; even in their more fallow periods, they’re never too far away.
In terms of pure entertainment, it’s one of the best All-Irelands in recent memory, up there with Limerick’s first win in 2018, with the drawn final of 2014, with the thrilling replay of 2013. It’s a day for big men: Gearoid Hegarty looks unstoppable and effortless at the same time, while Walter Walsh drives Kilkenny back into it in the second half through sheer physicality and force of will.
In the end, a battling Kilkenny are edged out by two points. The unlikely hero of the afternoon is Cian Lynch, a 26-year-old with a backwards baseball cap who, since April of this year, has been out with injury. He has seen precious little game time this year but is still somehow in the shakeup for MVP, through a combination of behind-the-scenes motivation, classy commiserations with the Kilkenny players, and having the chutzpah to accept the Liam McCarthy cup wearing said backwards baseball cap. As the fancy new camera angles give swirling views of Croke Park, ‘Dreams’ by the Cranberries erupts over the speakers. Not many sports can hold a candle to the great Irish pastime.
But wait, there’s more! The curtain hasn’t quite come down on the intercounty hurling season yet. The All-Ireland camogie semi-finals air on RTÉ2 this Saturday, with throw-in between Cork v Waterford at 3.15pm and Kilkenny v Galway at 5.30pm. For the first time since 2018, the final four does not include Tipperary, their gutsy win over Cork in the last of the group stages not quite enough to salvage their season.
The story of the semi-finals is Waterford, who have been there or thereabouts for several years; 2022 represents their fifth time in a row reaching the quarter-finals, but their first time ever pushing on to the semis. They beat a steadily-building Limerick 3-16 to 1-12 last weekend, with former All Stars Beth Carton and Niamh Rockett leading the charge. Waterford have been resolute and fearless this year, in a way that would remind you of the Meath ladies football team in their breakthrough season, and though Cork should have the experience, strength and depth to reach the final, they’ll be met with a ferocious challenge.
Kilkenny and Galway are a pairing that know each other inside-out, having met in the 2019 All-Ireland final (which went Galway’s way) and the 2020 final (which went Kilkenny’s). Kilkenny have momentum, having come through last weekend’s quarters with a decisive win over Dublin, but reigning champions Galway won’t cede their title easily. The teams’ last meeting, in the group stages earlier this month, finished all square: we should be in for a cracker.
