YOU know you’re not in for a normal day out in Dublin when you arrive at Busáras central bus station to find some boy using the hand dryer to dry his feet.
It promised to be a sporting occasion to remember because I was going to both the Aviva Stadium and Croke Park on the same day, but meeting yer man with his socks and shoes off in the bus depot was not on the agenda.
The day had been surreal enough to start with.
Four weeks previously I had bought tickets for the Champions Cup encounter between Ulster and Leinster at the Aviva Stadium. Sod’s law meant that Fermanagh would be playing Cavan at Croke Park in the Division 3 final on the same day.
So on the day of the games, Enniskillen Ulsterbus station had a mixture of Ulster rugby fans and Fermanagh GAA fans waiting for the bus down to Dublin.
“Yis will be on the drink the day, boys!” one Fermanagh fan said. “Not likely at €8.50 for a pint,” was the reply. “Ahhh, well. If Fermanagh loses it will be even worser,” he said back.
What followed was an unusual bus journey to the Big Smoke as both sets of fans enjoyed two very different conversations.
“Kelm will be hard to stop once he gets going” was mixed with “Gibson-Park is a super player”.
There was some chat about an Olympic rower – somehow I don’t think that came from the Derrylin man wearing the Fermanagh goalkeeping jersey.
On arrival, it was off to the Aviva. A full house of 52,300 made for a great atmosphere, but at half-time, it was straight to the DART to get the train from Lansdowne Road to Drumcondra, next to Croke Park, for the Fermanagh game.
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