Semple Stadium

What is your most your favourite venue you've played all over the years you've played Camogie?

Oh Stamford Stadium Love it, absolutely love it.

I think I always liked it and then the year we did play Galway in the All-Ireland semi-final down there, it was on before the Kilkenny senior hurling match.

I think they were playing Waterford after it and ours went to extra time.

So by the time extra time was happening, all the stadium was full of Kilkenny people.

I don't know what it was, but I'd say Galway should have beaten us that day, but there was no way anyone was going to beat us because we had the whole place full of Kenny people roaring us on.

So after that, Stamford Stadium was one of my favourite places to play.

Obviously, I have to say Grennan and Thomastown as well because I practically lived there all my life.

A fantastic man and a great guy.

And we're just delighted that his name will be honoured every single year in Semple Stadium with the victorious senior football champions.

They lift the Fillion Line Cup.

Yeah, for generations to come.

It is, Paul.

And I suppose in relation to the inclusivity, when it comes to the inclusive camps, Simple Stadium do play a really good role.

Obviously, we hold the camps in Cair, which is the Cair GA, and we also hold them in Coolmore Morris Park.

But Simple Stadium plays a role as well, Paul, because the children that are involved in the inclusive camp in Coolmore Morris Park make their trip down to Simple Stadium one of the days.

They get to see the dressing room, they go in, they get a tour of the stadium, they get to run out the tunnel to the Sunday game music.

And they really get their day in the sun and none more so this year when we speak about the sun.

even like the people doing social media for the GA or whoever, you know, anybody that's like you doing social media, you can't get the stuff out because the local network can't handle it or the Wi-Fi is only in the press box or, you know, it might necessarily reach to the pitch.

So there's always considerations like that and we're always trying to come up with ways of figuring it out and You know, like in fairness, some of the grounds are, you know, as the grounds improve, Parc Equave and Turles and all them, they're getting in better facilities.

So that makes life a little bit easier.

What's

We always say, I suppose, when the county champions are beaten, are knocked out you always say it's blown wide open then um i i think it was probably wide open before the county champions were knocked out actually i think it was very very open and at preliminary stage even preliminary quarterfinal stage and that carries forward now to our semi-finals um it's like you know we don't as i say you shouldn't be wishing your life away but i really can't wait for next weekend i think it's going to be a fantastic weekend of hurling in the stadium you know we're back in the stadium and you know Sean and Stephen after last weekend in the rag with the buzz that was there and the crowd that was there and all that I just I just think that that hurling club hurling in Tiberias on an absolute high at the minute and I was at I was at Airoga on the Cartier Money God on Sunday as well and there's a big big crowd there for that game too like you just said people are just mad to get to matches um which is super you know um So I just hope that the atmosphere will carry into the stadium on Saturday and Sunday.

We know we've often spoken in the past about how big Stamford Stadium is and how sometimes you can lose the atmosphere because it's such a big space and all that.

But mark my words, each one of the teams involved in the quarterfinals on Saturday and Sunday, they're thrilled to be getting the opportunity to play in Stamford Stadium.

Absolutely thrilled to be there.

And I just hope that the crowds will come again.

But here in Tipperary, all roads lead to the county quarterfinals in Herland next weekend.

We've two doubleheaders in Semple Stadium.

And next Saturday at 2 o'clock, my Carchy Burris against Killadangan.

That's a repeat of a famous game a couple of years ago where Mike Hackey-Burris got a last-minute goal to win that quarterfinal.

That's at 2 o'clock on Saturday, 3.45 on Saturday, 3rd of Sarsfields against Bursley in Semple Stadium.

And then on Sunday, the doubleheader begins with two town teams and Cashel King-Cormack against Nina Aroke, familiar with each other, played each other last year.

That's at 2 o'clock in Semple Stadium.

And then 3.45 on Sunday, J.K. Brackens against Holy Cross Ballycattle.

Absolutely.

So I suppose as an alternative, possibly, if she didn't get Croke Park, because I suppose one thing that we're blessed with in this country to a degree right now, I'd say, is that we do have some quite nice stadiums, to be fair, with the Aviva, with Porky, Kiev, even just to name one, even big grounds like Semple Stadium, stuff like that.

Would there have been an alternative if Croke Park wasn't there or it just simply was Croke Park?

To be honest, I saw a video as well where she sat down with Eddie Hearn five or six months ago after her last fight and said she was done.