The day began late but we were taking a group trip to see a gaelic football match.
Like everywhere, sports fans take great pride in their teams and Ireland has its own fair share of fanatics. The two national sports, gaelic football and hurling, are played in every county of the country.
I had never heard of gaelic football or hurling, but our Irish history professor had shown us some brief clips of game play during class. Gaelic football is much like soccer, except that you can run with the ball. Of course, there are many rules to the game and you obviously can't run with the ball acroos the entire field. Scoring is simple to understand: the goal looks much like the field goal posts in American football. If the ball is thrown or kicked underneath the bar of the H-shaped goal, then it counts for 3 points. If it thrown or kicked above the bar, it counts as one point.
Anyone can pick up the game in five minutes and there are plenty of videos on YouTube to watch. However, I think the game is even more fun to watch then soccer. The players score many more points during gaelic football and it is played at a much quicker pace.
Hurling is even more intense and fast-paced. It is much like lacrosse, but instead of carrying a stick with a net at the end, the players carry a flat paddle. They run with the ball balanced on the end paddle and it's quite amazing to watch. It would take a tremendous amount of skill to run and balance the ball at the same time. They can also hit the ball to about 3/4 of the pitch. Again, there are certain rules and they score lots of points in hurling.
Both games are organized across the 32 counties of Ireland (which means that they are played across Ireland and Northern Ireland's borders). Each county has a representing team that plays to win the provincial title (winner of Leinster, Ulster, Connacht, or Munster) and the all-Ireland title. Every single player is also an "amateur". The GAA (Gaelic Athletic Association) is in charge of both of these sports and they refuse to allow players to accept sponsorships. They receive no additional money for being on the team. They play merely for the glory of the game.
So, we got to see the Leinster provincial title between Dublin and Kildare at Croke Park. The stadium is huge and it was packed with over thousands of spectators. Of course, it was overrun with Dubliners, but there were some small patches of Kildare supporters, wearing their team colors (white) admist the sea of blue (for Dublin).
A kid waving the flag for Dublin.
Because we sat right behind the goalpost, I didn't get many good pictures of the game or players. I got better pictures of the crowd. Then again, I didn't want to miss the game by watching it through my camera lens, so I eventually put it away.
It started to rain too (big surprise) and everyone, in a singular motion, reached over the heads and pulled up their hood. It would have been amusing if I hadn't been sitting without an umbrella or hood. But I took off my jacket and shielded my head and camera.
Dublin won the game 2-15 (a total of 21 points) to Kildare's 0-18. (a total of 18 points). Dublin has won the Leinster final for the past several years, so they were the favorites to win again. Kildare put up a great fight and even spectators at home said that it was one of the best matches they had seen.
I didn't really pick a side before I went in. I didn't feel any obligation to support Dublin, and I was partially rooting for Kildare as the underdog,but I clapped when either side scored goals. So now that Dublin won the provincial final, I'm rooting for a win at the all-Ireland championship.
Once the game concluded, the crowd overwhelmed the Garda and poured over the fences and across the pitch. The fans ran towards the stand for the trophy presentation and some of the players gave some speeches. I had no idea who they were or what they said, but I was interested in seeing how people reacted. It was somewhat sad to see the drooping shoulders of the Kildare supporters as they walked out.
It was a lot of fun to watch and it was my first ticket to a live sports game. I definitely want to go to another match someday. It was easy to get caught up with the crowd - the collecting cheering and booing was fun to watch, and to participate in.
Once the match was over, I just followed the crowd until they reached O'Connell Street and then hopped on a bus to head home. I really wanted nothing more than a hot shower and some proper food.
(P.S. The title of this post comes from a GAA commercial sponsored by Vodafone. It is taken from Kipling's poem "If". This was one of the first commercials I remember seeing in Ireland and I thought it was cool. I have posted the video below. Make sure to see some hurling and gaelic football plays when at YouTube.)
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