As young lads in their 20s who met while studying at DCU, Ross from Dalkey and Donal from Navan, Co Meath were looking for a pad in the city. They bought number 28 St James Avenue together in 2005 for just over €360,000. They proceeded to renovate it, installing insulation and new windows .
Did they have any concerns about buying together? No, says Ross. “We wanted to be able to walk to work. We both had business backgrounds, had studied abroad together and are ultimately pragmatic people.”
At the time they were young, free and single and they even availed of the rent-a-room scheme to help pay the mortgage. Now both are married with children and they are selling the three-bed 80 sq m / 861 sq ft property for €350,000 through Owen Reilly
With Croke Park practically in your back yard is there much noise from the crowds on match days? “There is some minor atmospheric noise from the GAA games but even late matches are over by 8pm,” Ross says. There are upsides too. The pair regularly bought pints in the stadium after a game and could be home in time to catch the post-match commentary.
The west-facing yard is about 60sq m in size, and while overshadowed by the stadium in the mornings it gets afternoon sunshine. A committed GAA fan Donal says he never missed a Meath match while living in number 28. When the Royal county controversially won the Leinster Senior Football Championship back in 2010 he remembers he and half of Navan celebrated the win with a barbecue out the back.
They were also there for the period where rugby and soccer matches were played at Croker, and of course the controversial rows over the number of concerts to be held annually at the stadium means these have been capped at three per year.
The house opens onto the street and has good ceiling heights throughout. There is a sitting room to the front with a black tiled fireplace surround. The first of the three bedrooms is situated to the rear and has a large window overlooking the back. Up the stairs is bedroom number two and to the rear of the house, down a set of steps, is the eat-in kitchen which opens out to the back and a patio area, a sun trap that is protected from above by a polycarbonate awning.
The main bedroom is to the rear of the house and has an en suite. There may be scope to build above the existing one-storey extension using a lighter form of breeze block, but this would be subject to planning permission.
Are there any perks such as free tickets to games or concerts? “That’s an urban myth,” Ross says, though he adds that he was offered some last-minute tickets to a U2 gig a few years back.
The next owner can live in hope.
The property has a D1 BER rating and is seeking €350,000 through agent Owen Reilly.
