Na Fianna revel in home comforts next door in Croke Park
Sean Murphy (Na Fianna), pictured ahead of the AIB GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Club Championship Final, which takes place this Sunday, January 19th at Croke Park at 1.30pm, between Na Fianna (Dublin) and Sarsfields (Cork).
Sean Murphy and his Na Fianna team-mates got chatting the other night about whether they were the closest club to Croke Park.
It's only 2.6km from door to door though along the way you'll pass the Rosmini Gaels GAA clubhouse next to Fagan's pub in Drumcondra which, as it happens, is some distance away from their actual playing pitches on the Swords Road.
Either way, it's a short hop from Na Fianna's Mobhi Road base in Glasnevin to Croke Park, about a 20-minute walk, compared to the near three-hour car journey from Glanmire.
So while the Sarsfields players will leave Cork at midday tomorrow and stay overnight, a first for many of their players, Murphy and the Na Fianna players will feel like it is virtually a home game in a ground they've played the last two Leinster finals in.
"It's huge," said experienced forward Murphy of their location advantage. "The walk the club takes from Mobhi Road to Croke Park has been lined with flags and bunting. I live locally around there myself and if I'm commuting anywhere all I see is blue and yellow, which is fantastic. It's a really great time for the club."
Sleeping in their own beds has to be an advantage?
"You'd have to think so," agreed Murphy. "But then we don't know any different, we've never had to travel for an All-Ireland final before. I suppose we'll find out on Sunday but definitely being able to have your own routine should stand to you, yeah."
The other reason that Na Fianna enjoy playing at Croke Park is because its spaciousness suits their all action style. They turned in strong performances there in each of those two Leinster finals, against O'Loughlin Gaels and Kilcormac-Killoughey.
"If you look back at the Leinster final just gone, yeah, we've had success at Croke Park on that occasion so hopefully the stage will suit our forwards," said Murphy.
Whether Murphy is one of those forwards on Sunday remains to be seen. After more than a decade of adult service he has been used sparingly this season by boss Niall Ó Ceallacháin.
His brother, Micheal, is definitely out following shoulder surgery. Ó Ceallachain isn't short of options with the club lording it at the minor grade over the last decade or so, winning the 2012 title and four more between 2014 and 2017. At the U-21 grade, Na Fianna won a three-in-a-row of titles between 2016 and 2018.
It was only in 2000 that the club fielded a minor team following a 15-year break.
"The 2012 minor win was a great moment for the club, a kind of a breakthrough moment for hurling in Na Fianna," said Murphy. "We got that one minor under the belt and then the floodgates opened after that. Thankfully in the last three years or so it's come through to senior."
Senior success is an even more recent phenomenon with Na Fianna contesting their first county final in 2021 and winning one for the first time in 2023. Ó Ceallacháin has been central to the upsurge and has been rewarded with the Dublin manager's position. Barring a draw on Sunday, his double jobbing days will come to an end.
"I think this is my 11th or 12th year with the Na Fianna hurlers and he was actually the manager when I first joined the team that long ago," said Murphy. "There were a couple of managers in and out in between but then he was back with us again. He just keeps the standards at such a high level. He's a total professional and he keeps everyone focused on the task at hand."
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