The first match you saw in Croke Park

[seafoid]

What age were you?
Who was playing, what year  ?
Who did you go with ?
Do you remember anything about it ?

[mayogodhelpus@gmail.com]

What age were you?
Who was playing, what year  ?
Who did you go with ?
Do you remember anything
about it ?

7 years old.
Mayo v Meath (1987) All-Ireland Semi-Final.
Both my parents.
The Cusack Stand.

(Mayo v Galway in Tuam Stadium is the first Mayo match I can remember, the first rivalry I can remember is Mayo-Roscommon).

[sheamy]

What age were you?
Who was playing, what year  ?
Who did you go with ?
Do you remember anything
about it ?

7 years old.
Mayo v Meath (1987) All-Ireland Semi-Final.
Both my parents.
The Cusack Stand.

Derry played Meath in the 1987 semi-final

[larryin89]

88 he means obviously .

[Milltown Row2]

Lenister hurling semi final, not sure who Kilkenny were playing but we couldn't have been much older than 12 (30 years ago!!), Hillary McDaniel's (our juvenile manager right through to minor) took us, mad Kilkenny fan not sure we paid in, remember vaguely being carried over the stiles or squeezing through two/three at a time!!

What I remember about this? Getting stung by a bee ffs!! and the wooden seats and taking the piss from some header, the other thing that sticks in my head was the cursing strangely, crossing the border at Newry was always interesting

[BennyHarp]

1986 Tyrone v Galway aged 9. Don't remember too much except the Prince's glorious penalty!

[deiseach]

What age were you? 22
Who was playing, what year  ? Waterford v Galway in the All-Ireland quarter-final, 1998.
Who did you go with ? All my siblings. I also got tickets for a 'friend' and a friend from Finland.
Do you remember anything about it ? Everything. It was a wonderful day (not so good for you, seafoid), right down to the old woman beside me asking who I was. I thought she was mad but told her anyway and it turned out she was as far as you can get from mad. She had recognised the children of the woman who she had known growing up and the man who had moved into digs on the street all of 34 years before. After the debacle of the Munster final replay the previous week . . . God, I'm welling up just thinking about it. Quite possibly the best day of the lot following Waterford. Certainly the most consistently enjoyable. I knew we'd win from the moment the team ran on the pitch.

[larryin89]

What age were you?
Who was playing, what year  ?
Who did you go with ?
Do you remember anything about it ?

8 years old.

Mayo v Dublin , 1985 semi final. ( typing 1985 there made me realise how fuckin ancient I am now).

Aul boy and a shit load of relations back from England for the game.

Sat in the hogan stand  looking out for willie joe .

[brokencrossbar1]

What age were you?  11

Who was playing, what year  ?  Abbey Grammar in a Hogan Cup match v St Mels Longford

Who did you go with ? My mum

Do you remember anything about it ?  My brother was playing and I was due to go to the school the following year so it had to be 1987

[mayogodhelpus@gmail.com]

88 he means obviously .

Yip I do and I would have been 8, as I said only remember the stands from that game.

I remember the Semi v Tyrone the following year very well. Amazing difference a year makes.

[aontroim abu]

What age were you?
Who was playing, what year  ?
Who did you go with ?
Do you remember anything about it ?

8 Years old
Armagh v Dublin 1977 AI Final
Dad
Paddy Cullen saving a penalty from Paddy Moriarty

[FermGael]

What age were you? 7
Who was playing, what year  ? Tyrone v Kerry, 1986 All Ireland final
Who did you go with ? Father and uncle
Do you remember anything about it ? Plunkett Donaghy's perm. 

[ziggysego]

What age were you? 23
Who was playing, what year? Tyrone v Fermanagh, 2003
Who did you go with? My Da
Do you remember anything about it? Blown away by the stadium

* Didn't go previous years, as Croke Park wasn't suitable for disabled people

[seafoid]

What age were you? 7
Who was playing, what year  ? Galway vs Offaly, 1980
Who did you go with ? The ould lad and his uncle and John Tull Dunne
Do you remember anything about it ? Seeing the word "Gaillimh" on the scoreboard and wondering what it meant.The queues for the toilets and the speed required, Crisps and Fanta, leaving the sisters at home and partaking in the world of big men

[seafoid]

What age were you? 22
Who was playing, what year  ? Waterford v Galway in the All-Ireland quarter-final, 1998.
Who did you go with ? All my siblings. I also got tickets for a 'friend' and a friend from Finland.
Do you remember anything about it ? Everything. It was a wonderful day (not so good for you, seafoid), right down to the old woman beside me asking who I was. I thought she was mad but told her anyway and it turned out she was as far as you can get from mad. She had recognised the children of the woman who she had known growing up and the man who had moved into digs on the street all of 34 years before. After the debacle of the Munster final replay the previous week . . . God, I'm welling up just thinking about it. Quite possibly the best day of the lot following Waterford. Certainly the most consistently enjoyable. I knew we'd win from the moment the team ran on the pitch.

That was such a sickener, Deiseach. And a marker for everything that followed.
Played Waterford 14 times and never won. FFS.