Plain of the Herbs wrote:Now I've go that radio ad in my head, the one where the wan asks "Remember the Celtic tiger, those were the days" and the cat lets out a mournful Miaow.
Bord na Mona man wrote:Its a far cry from the late 90s when Croke Park would be heaving. I remember in 1999 there were 52,000 there when Offaly played Wexford and Kilkenny played Laois.
The hurling Cats have been meeowing for 10 years now.
I remember back in '98 when Leix had Kilkenny on the rack and just couldn't finish them off.
The next year there was much hope that the O'Moore men could give them a right rattle again.
They beat Offaly who were All Ireland holders in a challenge just a couple of weeks before, so things were really looking up for Padraig Horan's side.
I was heading to CP in '99 with a friend from Wexford and we were a few minutes late.
As we approached the ground, there were Kilkenny cars still in traffic and were listening to the first few minutes on the wireless with the windows down.
We enquired what the score was, as the game was on about 6 or 7 minutes.
Something along the lines of "3-6 to no score" was the reply
"Get lost and don't be taking the piss" was the retort from the Wexford man, with a few mutterings about pissing on gun powder.
It was only on arriving in and seeing the scoreboard that the extent to which Leix were being whipped.
It was the first time Brian Cody gave us a glimpse of his new world order and hurling was never quite the same after.