Monaghan v Kerry all ireland QF

[Kerry Mike]

MikeInPA: If its your first time seeing live Gaelic Games you chose a good day for a visit to Croke Park with what should be an excellent football and hurling game.

The minor game is an Under 18 hurling match, there will be a very small crowd at it but if you want to get in early the gates will be open from about 11.30 onwards, it is a long day with 3 full games so I would suggest getting in around 1pm, you will get the end of the minor game and then have the full build up to the 2 big games. There is a very good GAA musuem under the Cusuck Stand but its inside the turnstiles and once in you wont be able to leave, there is also a new Elvery's GAA store in the Hogan Stand (outside the turnstiles). There are plenty of food and drink stalls within the stadium. The Pubs around Drumcondra a few hundred metres from Croker will be buzzing all early afternoon so if you want a bit of pre match craic head in that direction, you can buy a beer inside Croker too

Enjoy the day out, would be interested to hear your views of the games and the day afterwards, and any support for Kerry will be welcome....

[armaghniac]

Enjoy the day out, would be interested to hear your views of the games and the day afterwards, and any support for Kerry will be welcome....

MikeinPA, enjoy your day out. While there won't be many Kerry people there it is because they only like to go to finals, a strategy that works for them as they have won so many. Support Monaghan, a poor wee place that needs all of the help it can get.

[MikeInPaUSA]

Thanks to everyone for all the info and the quick responses. It will be our first time in Ireland - we head on over tomorrow. My seventeen-year-old is the real sports fan who watches Gaelic football on satellite.

Since I have a great-great grandfather Quinlan who arrived in the USA an orphan, which teams would everyone suggest we cheer for? Maybe Quinlans are spread out all over Ireland, but if they are concentrated in a certain area that would be helpful. Barring that, I would tend to root for the little guy.

From everyone I speak to I am sure that Ireland will be an enjoyable experience for my whole family.  I'll make a note to let everyone know how our day was.

[Maguire01]

Sure weren't the Quinlan's massive in Monaghan!

[rpm]

When do tickets for the All Ireland Semi-Final between Dublin and Monaghan go on sale?

It is just that I don't want to buy Semi tickets until after the Kerry game because there is a chance that Monaghan might lose and not get there at all - and I'm afraid that the Dubs will have bought up all the tickets if they get a week's head start on us.

Anybody know?

[Datsun Donaghy]

Go for it Monaghan - NO REGRETS!!!!


DON'T LEAVE IT ON THE PITCH - C'mon Ulster................again!!!!!

[Main Street]

Barring that, I would tend to root for the little guy.

Monaghan are the out and out underdogs, but I wouldn't belittle them, they can take care of themseves.

[Hardy]

Mike - the Quinlans are from Meath - see
http://www.houseofnames.com/xq/asp.c/qx/quinlan-coat-arms.htm.

Since Meath is not playing that day, as a Meathman, I feel qualified to advise you as to who you should support  .

First game - just enjoy it - I don't mind who wins. Both counties are powerhouses of hurling.

Second game - support Monaghan. It fits your fallback position of supporting the underdog and a Kerry loss improves the chances for the rest of us.

Third game - since we don't yet know who'll be playing Limerick, I can only suggest you support Limerick. They will also be underdogs and I know for sure Limerick is full of of Quinlans - they must have migrated there from Meath, as I once did myself.

The only problem with this policy, of course, is that you're less likely to experience a win for 'your' side.

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

Mike - the Quinlans are from Meath - see
http://www.houseofnames.com/xq/asp.c/qx/quinlan-coat-arms.htm.

Unfortunately, a very dubious source for the origin of Irish surnames (if my own surname is anything to go by, where they were so completely wrong, and as I have previously advised them of such). Mac Lysaght is your only man 

[Hardy]

I agree, but I don't have MacLysaght to hand.

(Is it the O'Nolans, the O'Briens or the Coppaleens they got wrong?)

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

None of those Hardy, but can see where you're coming from; using Brian/Flann/Myles since it was just around the corner (literally) from where he spent his first years that I spent my own

It involves a branch of the O'Neills, one of those of the Cenel Eoghain sept. I'll have a look at Mac Lysaght later and update for MikeInPaUSA, though it's quite possible you have it correctly.

[GrandMasterFlash]

I'm reckoning tickets will be hard enough come by for this tie? Will it be a simple 25% per county allocation?

[The Subbie]

The Subbies Father was talking to Co Sec last night , Monaghan asked for and got 20,000 tickets for Sun week. By all accounts the usual suspects that have'nt been to a Monaghan game since 85 or 88 are all going buck mad to get tickets for this one , I suppose the bigger the Farney Army is on the day the better.

[Mid Mon]

With tickets priced at €45 there might not be that many jumping on the bandwagon.

[thebandit]

I'd imagine the hurling counties will get the better tickets, so our tickets will probably come with an optional extra to buy binoculars.

Unless you are 'Stewarding' that is "cough"