Next month it will be 20 years since the new Croke Park was unveiled. Its first production was a familiar crowd pleaser, the most potent rivalry in provincial football, the meeting of Dublin and Meath in the Leinster semi-final.
It was a different world. Dublin hadn’t won this championship fixture in seven years and in the meantime Meath had twice been All-Ireland champions. Unlike this weekend when a double bill will hardly fill half of the stadium, the fixture on its own stretched the then functional capacity of the emerging stadium with 65,898 spectators.
It wasn’t the final phase of the stadium, as the northern end had still to be redeveloped but that would be simply a matter of extending the Hill across the anachronistic Nally Stand, looking every day of its 50 years, which was completed within two years.
The second-last weekend in June 2002 saw the unveiling of the new Hogan Stand, which effectively framed the stadium.
It was just about the best PR the GAA had ever enjoyed – to the point that a marketing report a couple of years later fretted that it was monopolising all public goodwill, leaving old Croke Park “with the controversies and disciplinary problems” in the words of one apprehensive official.
Civic society was impressed. Writing in The Irish Times, Environment Editor Frank McDonald enthused:
“Gone, too, are the breeze-block walls and corrugated iron gates and the pre-cast concrete bunker on Jones’s Road that served for years as the GAA’s headquarters.
“In their place is the new Croke Park – the sensational amphitheatre for Ireland’s national games that was promised 10 years ago and has now been delivered with tremendous conviction. All that remains is to get rid of the dismal Nally Stand and recreate the revered Hill 16 as an even larger, steeper and more dramatic tier of all-standing terraces.
“What has been achieved thus far is a triumph of will and imagination. The U-shaped formation of the Cusack Stand, the Canal End and the new Hogan Stand gives the stadium a powerful architectural unity, conveying a real sense of community on the day of a big match.”
As a sports venue, it wasn’t without problems. That very week, Leinster council were inspecting the playing surface in advance of the provincial hurling final between Kilkenny and Wexford, who would be given an opportunity to train there in advance.
"It plays a bit like a golf green," said then Kilkenny secretary Pat Dunphy. "When the ball comes down from a height there is no great bounce, so we felt it was important that we get to play on it before the final to avoid any misjudgments or errors which could be very costly on the day."
Dublin were an unknown quantity inasmuch as that is ever possible. Under new management, they had stuttered past Wexford and not one of the starting 15 – current manager Dessie Farrell, Jason Sherlock, Jim Gavin and Paul Curran all started on the bench – had ever experienced victory over Meath in the championship.
Swagger
Manager Tommy Lyons had set out an ebullient stall, promising to bring back the swagger into Dublin football. Personifying that was full forward Ray Cosgrove, whose two goals that day against Meath despite being marked by All Star full back Darren Fay delivered the first win in the fixture since 1995.
Dublin's attacking play was also inventive. The forwards regularly rotated, challenging the Meath defenders to follow them or hold
He remembers the Meath match as being the first real test of an emerging team:
“Tommy got the city behind us. We’d a new team, particularly the forwards. Johnny McNally made his debut and it was Alan Brogan’s first year. I’d been around a while but it was my first season starting.
"One thing stuck out in the lead-up was that (Dublin selector) Davy Billings – God rest him – who would have known every young footballer around the city, said 'you judge yourself on Dublin versus Meath games. When you look back on your career, it's games like this that will define you.'
“I remember letting that sink in. We had team meetings during the week and I remember Whelo (Ciarán Whelan) speaking a lot about how he had been around the scene for a while – he came in the year after the All-Ireland – and how he hadn’t beaten Meath. It was a monkey on our back and we were well aware of the enormity of it.”
Cosgrove’s two goals were perfectly timed: the first to establish their grip on the match in the first half and the second to put it to bed after Meath had threatened a comeback.
“It was a massive boost for my confidence. I was able to find the right place at the right time and it really lifted me for the rest of the championship. I’d locked horns with one of the best full backs in the game”
Dublin's attacking play was also inventive. The forwards regularly rotated, challenging the Meath defenders to follow them or hold. Cosgrove was top scorer but Brogan fired over 0-3 and Collie Moran 0-4. The display appeared to vindicate Lyons's ambition.
Dublin duly won Leinster, defeating Kildare in the final and capturing the province for the first time since the All-Ireland win of 1995.
The team would end the year losing narrowly to champions-in-waiting Armagh, the width of a post – Cosgrove’s dying-seconds free curling agonisingly on to the woodwork and bouncing out into oblivion. It was a tough end to his best performance of a devastating season, 2-28 in the league and 6-23 in the championship and recognised by an All Star selection.
This Sunday, another Dublin-Meath semi-final takes place but in vastly different circumstances. Meath have just one win in the 12 championship encounters since 2002. Croke Park is now a venue that attracts controversy as a perceived unfair advantage to Dublin.
In the 10 years prior to 2002, Dublin had managed just one All-Ireland whereas the most recent 10 have yielded seven, leaving the county with more of a hangover than the ravenous hunger they’re desperate to recover.
