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Description
The big showdown between defending national champs Kerry vs.
Cork. Played out at Fitzgerald Stadium
in Killarney.
How to get there
Fitzgerald Stadium is a 10-minute walk from the town center,
at the top of Lewis Rd.
By car:
From Tralee, take N22 south.
From Kenmare, take N71 north.
By bus:
See www.buseireann.ie
website for all current travel details and restrictions.
Opening times
Game at 2PM. Gates
open at 11AM.
Admission Fees
Covered Stand : €35
Uncovered Stand: €30
Terrace Adult: €20
Terrace Concession: €15
Family Ticket: Adult €35, €30, Juvenile €5
Address
Fitzgerald Stadium
Killarney, Co. Kerry
My experience
The game looks like a cross between basketball, rugby, and
soccer – lots of dribbling and legal traveling and can those boys kick a ball
! Gaelic football predates all of those
sports. It helps to know what is going
on – here are the general rules:
1. The ball can be carried in your hands for four steps distance and
can be kicked or "hand-passed", a hand or fist striking motion.
2. After every four steps, the ball must be either bounced on the
ground or "solo-ed", an amazing move of dropping the ball onto your
foot and kicking it back into your own hands.
3. You cannot bounce the ball twice in a row.
4. Most importantly,
to score: you put the ball over the crossbar by foot or hand/fist for one
point. Or put the ball under the
crossbar and into the net by foot or the hand/fist for a goal for three points.
I had plenty of time to understand the sport. It was truly football galore – there was a
pre-game played by 18 year olds from opposing teams, then the real game, and
then a kiddy game at half time. Heaven
for a serious fan of football.
Sitting in the stands was a grand, old-fashioned
experience. It was incomparable to the
overly commercialized, American equivalent.
Fans of opposing teams treated each other very cordially – they sat
beside one another, letting the game be fought on the field, not in the
stands. No alcohol is allowed in the
stadium. No oodles of overpriced
refreshments, there we just a few basic ones offered. I regretted not bringing own picnic and
bottled water. A live, 20-piece marching
band entertained the crowd of 30,000.
They rallied the crowd just fine.
I was happy to not hear a single pumped up audio intrusion blared from
the loudspeakers. Nice open-air stadium,
and we got some sun. Note: be sure to
prepare for the weather next time, just in case. All and all, it was fun and my curiosity
about Gaelic football quenched.
Written by Liz O' Malley - Summer of Travel 2007
For those journeying to the match here is a list of hotels near Fitzgerald Stadium
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