A Hull Hoppers Foreign Jaunts #No 16 Ireland 0 – 3 Australia Thomond Park, Limerick, Ireland, 12 August 2009, F.A.I. International. I have always looked out for football matches that are held in unusual venues or at grounds that are not normally used for football. I was still somewhat restricted travel wise due to my father’s health but the chance came along to do a short trip across the Irish Sea to a ground which fitted these categories. The national stadium at Lansdowne Road was still in the process of being rebuilt, so the Irish team were playing matches at various grounds. Most of the competitive games were being played at Croke Park, the G.A.A. ground in Dublin, as it has a large capacity. However, some friendlies were being played at other venues and when I learned that a friendly international was going to be played for the first time at Thomond Park, Limerick, the home of Munster Rugby, I realised this was too good an opportunity to miss. We were getting used to travelling to Leeds / Bradford Airport by this time and the train and bus provided a comfortable and easy way to get there from Hull. The flight from Leeds / Bradford to Dublin took around forty minutes followed by a short bus ride to the main Dublin railway station. From there we took the train to Limerick and enjoyed a very comfortable journey of around two hours. We checked into a very nice hotel in the centre of Limerick and had chance to have a bit of a look around the city. Limerick is a very nice place with some good restaurants and bars and some excellent traditional Irish Stew was just one of the wonderful meals we tried during our time there. The following day we had much more time to look round Limerick and during our tour we came across Jackman Park, the home of Limerick F.C. While looking round the outside of the ground we came across one of the club officials. He was very friendly and also interested in our groundhopping exploits throughout the British Isles and the rest of Europe. He invited us into the ground to have a look round and take some photographs. I needed no second invitation! The late afternoon saw us make our way towards Thomond Park and as we approached the ground we could feel the atmosphere building. I always like the excitement building at grounds outside the United Kingdom as it feels so different from grounds back home. We entered the ground which, although it has a capacity of only around 25, 000, produced a very good atmosphere and the ground itself was very impressive. We sat on the main side and both the main stand and the stand opposite had a large full length cover with red seats and a huge arched roof. Ireland were playing a very good Australia side with many UK and European based players such as Mark Schwarzer, Mark Bresciano, Tim Cahill and Harry Kewell. Ireland also had some good players on show including a couple from the mighty Hull City, Kevin Kilbane and Caleb Folan! However, Ireland were outclassed in the first half and fell behind to two first half goals. A third goal in the second half killed the game completely as Ireland fell to a 3 – 0 defeat. Another day looking round Limerick followed by a return trip to Dublin, Leeds / Bradford and Hull made this a most enjoyable trip and also enabled us to tick off a ground which is unlikely to be used for football again. Well worth the visit!
Posted on: Thu, 30 Oct 2014 20:57:40 +0000
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