Today’s Hospital Pass explores the remarkable story of a 52-year old match-winner in Kildare and an alternative experience of the All-Ireland Final for the many fans left without tickets.
Age is really just a number in the GAA
Barring the odd exception, the usual age for GAA club players to hang up their boots is somewhere in their early to mid-thirties.
Granted, there will be a few who will help out the junior team if they’re stuck for a year or two after ‘retirement’, but most will be making up for all those weekends lost to beer bans and challenge matches in far-flung destinations well before they reach 40.
Any of you reading this who fall into the above category should be prepared to hang your heads in shame after hearing the story of Liam Miley, who appeared in the Kildare reserve C final for St. Laurence’s against Sarsfields at the weekend at the ripe old age of 52.
And it wasn’t just a cameo appearance either. According to the Hogan Stand website, Miley scored five points from corner forward, including the winner in what was a one-point game, with St. Laurence’s coming out on top on a final scoreline of 1-12 – 1-11.
Miley’s name will be familiar to GAA fans inside and outside of Kildare as he represented the Lilywhites at inter-county level, while it is a fairly remarkable achievement that his appearance at the weekend came 30 years after he lined out in the Kildare county final of 1982, also against Sarsfields. They must be sick of the sight of him.
Seanie Johnston, if you’re reading this, you may head back to Cavan next season; there’s a new corner forward in town.
An alternative All-Ireland Final experience
You may have heard earlier this week about the GAA organising showings of Sunday’s hotly-anticipated All-Ireland Football Final in Odeon Cinemas across the country.
So it mightn’t beat being there, but with reports that the demand for tickets is enough to fill Croke Park three times over, there’s going to be an awful lot of people left disappointed and this promotion offers fans the chance to experience some sort of final atmosphere with all the added visual and audio benefits that come with being in a cinema.
If you’re interested and want to head along to any of the participating cinemas, free text the word SPORT followed by the name of your local ODEON cinema and your name and address to 50400 (e.g. text ‘GAA ODEON Blanchardstown, John Smith, 123 Huntstown Avenue’ to 50400 if you want tickets for ODEON Blanchardstown). Tickets are limited so don’t hang around.
ODEON Cinemas are located in:
ODEON Blanchardstown
ODEON Point Village
ODEON Coolock
ODEON Stillorgan
ODEON Cavan
ODEON Limerick
ODEON Waterford
ODEON Naas
ODEON Newbridge
ODEON Portlaoise
Main pic via HoganStand.com
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