Could you imagine the craic if you stopped for a pint in every town on the way home?
Yesterday evening, we brought you the tale of Christy McLaughlin, a club footballer from Donegal who will be embarking on an epic trek to play a Championship game this weekend.
Christy and his teammates from Carndonagh GAA club in the north of the county will be making the journey south to Glencolumbkille, a round trip of 280 kilometres that will take approximately four hours and 40 minutes there and back.
GAA people being the competitive animals they are, we were absolutely inundated with responses detailing even longer journeys that club teams have to take in the rest of the country, particularly in Cork, the largest and most important county in Ireland.
We’ve put together a list below of some of the longest journeys between two clubs in one county as sent in by our readers and some of them are expeditions that Christopher Columbus himself would think twice about.
Before we open ourselves to criticism, we should point out that we’re not pretending to be the definitive authority on the matter, just passing on some suggestions from our readers.
We’re also not being too fussy about whether the teams involved play in the same division or whether they would meet each other that often; it’s merely to illustrate the vast geographical landscape of the GAA in every county in Ireland.
Better pack an overight bag lads, it’s going to be a long trip.
1. Garnish GAA (Allihies) – Youghal, Cork. 380km round trip. 5 hours, 34 minutes return
2. Castletownbere GAA – Mitchelstown, Cork. 348km round trip. 4 hours 40 minutes return
3. Youghal – Ardgroom, Cork. 344km round trip. 5 hours, 14 minutes return
4. Malin – Kilcar, Donegal. 298km round trip. 4 hours, 30 minutes return
5. Ballinasloe – Renvyle, Galway. 294km round trip. 4 hours 32 minutes return
6. Tuosist – Tarbert, Kerry. 272km round trip, 4 hours, 6 minutes return
7. Asdee – Derrynane, Kerry. 260km round trip. 4 hours 24 minutes return
8. Ballina – Carrick Swans/Carrick Davis, Tipperary. 238km round trip. 3 hours, 26 minutes return
9. Shrule – Cill Chomáin, Mayo. 234km round trip. 3 hours, 54 minutes return
10. Ballaghdereen – Belmullet, Mayo. 234km round trip, 3 hours, 16 minutes return
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ podcast – listen to the latest episode now!
