Alternative history: if Croke Park hadn’t been opened...

IRISH rugby supporters’ long wait for the Grand Slam goes on, following the late defeat by Scotland last weekend in Cardiff.

The only silver lining on the cloud is that it’s the last ‘home’ game Ireland will have to play in the Millennium Stadium, with the new Aviva Stadium due to open soon.

It could all have been so different, of course. The GAA Congress vote to open Croke Park to soccer and rugby back in 2006 barely failed, but it failed nonetheless, and the nightmare scenario unfolded.