Tag Archives: Ireland

The Compromise At Havelock Square 

09 Friday Apr 2021

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Saturday 26th March 2011 ko 20.00

UEFA European Championship Qualifying Group B

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND 2 (McGeady 2 Keane 21)

FYR MACEDONIA 1 (Tričkovski 45)

Att 30,000 at Aviva Stadium, Lansdowne Road, Dublin

Entry €45

Programme €5

Parking €5

It had been a highly convivial afternoon in Newry but as I thrashed the tiny hire car on the motorway back to Dublin the tension was building. On one hand any trip to any capital is going to involve traffic, and we’d made the decision already to use both of Dublin’s toll roads (costing a total of €4.70) just to get there on time. Another problem was the fact that even though we’d been in Ireland since Friday morning, we still didn’t have tickets.

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Perfect

29 Monday Mar 2021

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Friday 25th March 2011 ko 19.45

League of Ireland Premier Division

BOHEMIAN 0

GALWAY UNITED 1 (Yoffe 60)

Att c1,000

Entry €15 

Programme €4

It’s long been my conviction that the British and the Irish have far more in common than what divides us. We drive on the same side of the road, speak (predominantly) the same language and occupy the same set of islands. For the record Dublin is still the only airport I’ve ever landed in and not felt abroad. Most of the time its the extremists and politicians that seek to accentuate the differences while everyone else is happy to enjoy each other’s company; this trip rather proved the point. Continue reading →

Walfrid

26 Tuesday Jan 2021

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Sunday 11th May 2008 12.30

Scottish Premier League

CELTIC 2 (McManus 37 McDonald 87)

HIBERNIAN 0

Canning sent off (2nd Booking) 83

Murray sent off (DOGSO) 90

Att 58,515

Entry £26

Programme £2.50

Now you might find this hard to believe but this was actually something to do break up a journey home to Oxfordshire!  Watching a game at Wick Academy had become a mission, and so when I finally managed to get it done at the third attempt a day earlier I  sat in a cheap hotel in Perth contemplating a beast of journey home! It needed something to break up the drive back to Banbury, so a few days earlier I’d looked for a game on the way. I’m not sure why I hadn’t thought about Celtic, it certainly isn’t due to any sectarian thoughts, you’re reading the thoughts of the product of a Protestant father and a Catholic mother after all! Continue reading →

Lucky 13

16 Tuesday Jul 2019

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Friday 7th June 2019 ko 20.45

European Qualifying Round- Group D – Matchday 10

DENMARK 1 (Højberg 75)

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND 1 (Duffy 85)

Att 34,610

The Swedish Hop’s cost of £285 included all entry fees, programmes, coach travel, 2 bridge tolls on the Øresund Bridge and 2 nights’ bed and breakfast at the Clarion Magasinet Hotel in Trelleborg.

Entry 350 DKK (approx’ £42.06)

Programme FREE

Even taking into account the vibrant history of the Swedish Hop the start of the 13th edition was a bizarre one. Four of us were at our hotel of the previous 3 days in the suburbs of Copenhagen awaiting the indefatigable Kim Hedwall couriering the Trelleborgs FF team coach en route from Kastrup airport to collect us. But how on earth was a proud Swede on a Swedish football team’s bus on a Swedish football tour in Denmark? Continue reading →

State of Play

20 Monday Jul 2015

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Sunday 12th July 2015 ko 14.30

Mayo League: Super League

MANULLA 0

CASTLEBAR CELTIC 1 (O’Boyer 62)

Att 57

Entry €5

No Programme

The 4th game of this mini-Irish tour was meant to be a trip to UCD of Dublin, but their success in the Europa League qualifier the previous Thursday saw their scheduled game postponed, with no other League of Ireland games scheduled. I am grateful to Chris Bedford the publisher of the Football Traveller for contacting me to inform us of the bad news. Of course news is only bad news if you can’t spin it to your advantage, and it did give the party an interesting dilemma. Continue reading →

There was a young man

19 Sunday Jul 2015

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Saturday 11th July 2015 ko 18.30

League of Ireland- Premier Division

LIMERICK 2 (Faherty 33 Turner 82p)

GALWAY UNITED 4 (Keegan 12 61 74 Shanahan 81)

Att 650

Entry €15

Programme €4

Badge €3

I first visited the Republic of Ireland when I was 11. My scout troop camped near a small town called Castletown Bere on Bantry Bay, and other than quickly finding out why Ireland is the “Emerald Isle” my abiding memory of the place was just how long it look to get there. Now it has to be said a fleet of cars including 2 Morris Oxfords and a Morris Ital on single track roads was never likely to be fast, but I do remember upon my return grabbing Dad’s road atlas and being surprised at it only being 190-odd miles from the ferry port of Rosslare.

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The Path Less Trodden

15 Wednesday Jul 2015

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Friday 10th July 2015 ko 19.45

League of Ireland First Division

CABINTEELY 0

SHELBOURNE 1 (English 55)

Att 620

Entry €10

Programme €3

The previous day I’d spent a faintly boring few minutes strolling round the bookshop at the airport. These days the sport section is full of Premier League players’ ghost-written “auto”-biographies, and for the most part they follow a similar pattern. Usually a child is discovered by a club, then quickly graduates through the ranks, makes his first team debut, then fame and fortune follow. But what happens to those who for one reason or another don’t make it? Continue reading →

Island of Sheep

14 Tuesday Jul 2015

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Thursday 9th July 2015 ko 19.45

Europa League 1st Qualifying Round 2nd Leg

ST PATRICK’S ATHLETIC 0

SKONTO RIGA 2 (Sorokins 37 Karasavkas 59p)

Skonto win 4-1 on aggregate

Att 2,345

Entry €15 (c £10.59)

Programme €3

St Pats have their own seagull. That’s right, a seagull and she sits atop a floodlight casting a beady eye on proceedings below, and isn’t adverse to attacking visitors who she thinks are threatening her nest in the stand. Richmond Park is in the Inchicore (in gaelic “Island of Sheep”) suburb in the west of Dublin, and is named after the former British army base here. Nearby is the preserved Kilmainham Jail where several members of the 1916 Rising were executed. Continue reading →

Two-and-a-half Percent

13 Sunday Jul 2014

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Sunday 6th July 2014 ko 16.00

League of Ireland Premier Division

ATHLONE TOWN 0

DERRY CITY 1 (P McEleney 20)

Att 354

Entry €15

Programme €3

Badge €3

NB. The Irish tour’s cost of £285 included entry into all the 3 games, and programmes, all transport, all excursions, and 3 nights bed and breakfast at Dublin City University

The relaxed nature of the weekend was neatly summed up by its final day. A leisurely breakfast was followed by a trip west to Athlone for a boat trip on the Shannon. It turned out to be a mecca for the birdwatchers, and for the boat a chance to meet two residents of its birthplace Southend-on-sea! Even the RNLI badge was still attached!

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Here, There & Everywhere

11 Friday Jul 2014

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Saturday 5th July 20145 ko 19.45

League of Ireland Division One

LONGFORD TOWN 3 (O’Sullivan 65 81 Shaw 79) G. O’Connor sent off 62 (dangerous play)

SHELBOURNE 0 McDonagh sent off 62 (violent conduct)

Att 780

Entry €10

Programme €3

Badge €5

NB. The Irish tour’s cost of £285 included entry into all the 3 games, and programmes, all transport, all excursions, and 3 nights bed and breakfast at Dublin City University

The great advantage of a day with just the one match to see is that the rest of your time is a blank canvas. There was time for a leisurely, if large breakfast before the coach headed north to the pretty seaside town of Skerries, In fact you could trace the coast north and see over the border to Northern Ireland. Continue reading →