Where's the best breakfast on the road to Croker?

IN his D’Unbelievable guise, Pat Shortt was always steadfast in his belief that a dinner at half eight in the morning was imperative to ensure a clear run of the day. The modern GAA supporter follows that same mantra when it comes to the Championship breakfast.

Timing food properly is as integral a part of a championship Sunday as finding a parking space in Dublin away from pesky clampers and getting two good pints in Quinn’s before the minor match.

For those responsible for feeding our Gaels, the landscape has changed over the years but some have stayed the same. The Celtic Tiger may have introduced skinny lattes, fruit cups and ham paninis to palates, but GAA supporters have remained largely impervious to that shift. The traditional slap-up fry remains the Sunday morning market leader.

“The full Irish is still the number one”, says Damien Kilmartin, the owner of Kilmartins N6 Service Station in Athlone. “We’d notice that other customer bases, like office workers would be more about fruit and cereal, but GAA supporters are still about traditional fry-ups. The early customers we get on a Sunday morning would sit down for the full plate and the only difference would be the later customers would grab a breakfast roll. We’ve a shop and a 30-seater deli, and we’d be busy from eight in the morning until 12.”

The heyday for Kilmartin’s Sunday breakfast trade was when Galway and Mayo broke the barren years for Connacht counties by ensuring All-Ireland football finals became a frequent expedition and not an Olympic cycle.

“That period in the 90’s and 2000’s when Galway and Mayo were successful would have been the best business for us. We’d have noticed a drop off the last couple of summers when they were not as successful.

“We’re the best bet for Galway supporters as we’re halfway. But we’d also get some from Roscommon, and when Westmeath won Leinster in 2004 it was a great summer for us. With Galway joining Leinster hurling this year, it could give us business if they go on a run.”

The name may be redolent of the sport of kings, but in Horse and Jockey in Tipperary they are appreciative of the codes that dominate their hinterland and consume the minds of the passing trade. “The GAA matches are always big business,” says Caroline Egan, manager of the Horse and Jockey Hotel. “Our business would be mostly Cork and Kerry with some from Tipperary.

“We’d start from 10am on with the breakfast buffet, with most people going for the traditional fry.

“We’ve a big GAA tradition here. We do a lot of stuff for the Tipperary teams, and we’d get other teams stopping here on their way back from matches as well. There’s great craic on these mornings as well. Cork against Tipperary in the hurling in Thurles will be big for us this year.”

In Tyrone the current feel-good factor comes from Sam and a full stomach. Located in Peter Canavan country, Kelly’s Inn in Ballygawley is a hotbed of anticipation on summer Sundays.

“There’s been a big increase in business since Tyrone started being successful,” states manager Ann Marie Kelly. “Sunday mornings would be very busy and on the way back late on Sunday evenings as well. There’s a great atmosphere before the matches. We’re sitting right in Peter Canavan’s parish with Errigal Ciarán being the local club.

“The location helps a lot as well. We’re on the main Omagh to Belfast road. Then we’re just five miles off the turn for Dublin in Aughnacloy. So we’re perfectly placed, and we’d get a lot of Tyrone support along with Derry or Donegal if they were in Dublin.”

More and more discerning southern gaels are venturing to the Midway Food Court just off the M7. Located a Brendan Cummins puckout away from O’Moore Park in Portlaoise and at the converging point for all Munster traffic bound for Croker, it ticks the convenience box for travelling supporters.

The layout is borrowed from an American style foodcourt, incorporating Little Caesars, the Tapenade Bistro, O’Brien’s Sandwich Bar and Subway. It’s a world apart from the traditional Irish hostelry, but as Sam Raji of the Tapenade Bistro points out, GAA fans passing through the door is becoming a common sight during the summer.

“We’re open just under two years now. The location makes it a very handy and easy stop for people. It’s just off the motorway, the road from Cork to Portlaoise is now developed and there’s plenty parking for buses and cars.

“For GAA games this place is busy from 8am on and it’ll be that way now for the summer. Recently we’ve seen the Munster-Leinster traffic which packed us out all day long, and if there’s games on in Portlaoise we’re also busy.”

WHEN it comes to bang for your buck, all eateries are competing vigorously in these recessionary times. In Kilmartin’s Service Station a breakfast plate costs €6:95, a medium breakfast plate €4:95, with a large breakfast roll €3:95 and a small breakfast roll €3:25.

In Horse and Jockey the traditional fry up with all assorted trimmings is €12, with a similar meal in Kelly’s Inn setting you back £6 (€6.70). In Tapenade Bistro a fry is €7:95, the mini version is €5:95 with the alternative of porridge, raisins and honey costing €3:95.

The Derrygarra Inn in Butlersbridge, Co Cavan, the Castle Arms in Durrow, Co Laois and the Headford Arms in Kells – a stop off for the north western fleet – are others that will cater during the summer, though the closing of Josephine’s in Urlingford is a source of some lament.

The summer of 2009 will bring unique challenges too, with the ever expanding motorway network bypassing more and more towns and villages.

“The motorway bypassing us opened last year,” says Damien Kilmartin. “So this summer will be the big test. We’re noticing a drop so we don’t know will the GAA traffic be the same.”

Yet Caroline Egan remains more optimistic, reasoning that if there are fans travelling, it’s breakfasts they’ll be needing.

“This is the first summer test for us as well with the new M8 motorway having opened last November. But we haven’t noticed much of a change in business and I think that’ll be the same during the summer. Parking is a big plus and GAA people have always stopped on a Sunday morning. ”