As the countdown to the All-Ireland quarter final (against God only knows who) gets underway, it’s probably time to start making a few plans for getting there. With that in mind, here’s some early info on transport for Mayo supporters to Croke Park.
Bearing in mind that we are playing twice in Croke Park on 8th August (our Junior team takes on Kerry in the All-Ireland Final at 2pm and our seniors play in the quarter-final at 6pm), it’s expected that as usual, a large contingent will be making the journey from the West.
Credit: Mayo GAA Facebook Page
We’ll be compiling a list of transport options and updating it over the coming days so if you know anyone who is running a private coach on the day please contact us with details or leave a comment underneath, and we’ll add it in.
Train:
Irish Rail are running trains from Ballina and Westport at times that work well for the games: – see all relevant information here:
https://www.irishrail.ie/fares-and-tickets/allirelandfootball
Book online to guarantee cheapest fares (and your seat). Best train times to get you there for the Junior game are as follows:
- Depart Ballina: 09:35 | Depart Westport: 09:45 ———- Arrive Dublin (Heuston): 13:05
Additional services have been added as follows:
- 11:15hrs Westport – Dublin
- 11:25hrs Ballina – Dublin
- 11:50hrs Sligo – Dublin
- 20:15hrs Dublin – Sligo
- 20:50hrs Westport – Dublin
- 21:10hrs Ballina – Dublin
- 21:30hrs Westport – Dublin
Note: There are no family tickets available on match day trains according to Irish Rail:
@MayoClub51 @geraghc Hi, family tickets are not available on match days or during special events where demand on services is very high.
— Iarnród Éireann (@IrishRail) August 5, 2015
Buses
- BALLINROBE: Kieran Biggins is providing a ticket plus transport deal, with the bus leaving Ballinrobe at 1.00pm sharp. The cost of the bus and entry ticket to Croke Park to the match is €35.Anyone interested who wishes to reserve a place should contact Kieran on 087 2705050 to book their place, early bookings are advisable. (Thanks to Ballinrobe GAA)
- BALLINA: Treacy Coaches are running a bus to Dublin on the 8th, departing Ballina at 12 noon. To book, email treacycoaches@eircom.net or phone 096 22563. Depending on preferences, i.e. whether people want to see the Junior Final (which we hope they will!) they may run a coach at 9.30am to cater for them, so if you are interested please get in touch with them as soon as possible.
- Crossmolina: Call Gillespie Coaches on 085 7646523 for details.
If there are any other planned buses please let us know and we will post them here.
Parking
Parking around Croke Park on Saturday is harder to get than parking on Sundays – for one, on-street parking is a bit of a risk due to clampers. Details on car parks near Croke Park can be found here.
Mayo GAA has posted the following information on its website about Euro Car Parks’ €7 match day parking offer. Saturday’s special offer is available at the Mater Car Park; the closest official car park to the stadium, with all day parking available for only €7 and it can be booked online here. Fans are advised to book early for this weekend to avoid disappointment. UPDATE: This is now fully booked out (Friday evening)
Traffic
Luas Cross-city works are ongoing in the city centre; all information is here. Main thing to note is that if you’re travelling on Friday that you can’t use College Green between 7am and 7pm. Just leave yourself plenty of time if you are travelling across the city and you will be fine.
Sunday: If you’re staying overnight in Dublin, be aware that the Ironman 70.3 is happening in Dublin on Sunday 9th and there will be rolling road closures throughout the city to facilitate all those mad fit people running and cycling and swimming around the place. All details can be found on their website here.
Other stuff
Podcast: Check out the Mayo News Quarter-final preview podcast – always well worth a listen before (and after) a big game – link embedded below.
Discussion: Vote in the poll over on mayogaablog.com on whether we’ll do the biz, and get involved in the usual debate on the big game.
Wavelength Video Launch: Local band Wavelength after their recent video recording sessions around the county are releasing their “Seven Mayo Finals” song & video in the Upper Deck, Crossmolina tonight (Thursday) at 9:30pm. All proceeds to Crumlin Children’s Hospital.
On the day:
Get your message on the big screen in Croke Park.
The GAA are providing the usual entertainment features including the half time interval act. Because Croke Park will be full of culchies Marty Mone will be performing his massive hit single ‘Hit the Diff’ at half time during the Monaghan and Tyrone game. (No, we don’t know what it means either but the Farmer’s Journal has kindly provided a glossary of terms for the less tractor literate among us.)
So here we are for 5 years running – in an All-Ireland Quarter Final. But this time we have an added bonus – our juniors are contesting for All-Ireland glory against Kerry at 2pm. Any day your county plays an All-Ireland Final in Croke Park is special, so make sure you come early and bring your colour and your voiceboxes. You’ll have plenty of time during the Monaghan-Tyrone game to relax them for the senior lads.
Best of luck to our two squads and safe travels to everybody making their way to Croke Park!
We welcome all feedback and participation, so if you have any ideas or suggestions and would like to contribute to the group, drop us a line - we’d love to hear from you. Follow us on Twitter.
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I have one spare ticket for Upper Hogan section 730 row L ( sitting with 4 other mayo supporters) , selling at face value, please contact me if interested!
Went to print my tickets yesterday evening, to my horror “No tickets available” is what I got! Forgot to update my card details after it expiring. Have to say fair play to Michaela in the season ticket office, she had it sorted for in a couple of minutes!