Derry, Here We Come

And we’re off again….. Derry, here we come!

We’re off on our travels again, this time to Celtic Park in Derry at the other end of the Island. The last time we played Derry in Celtic Park was back in 2010 in round 4 of the league (where we won by a goal, 2-12 to 1-12). Mayo Club ’51 will of course be making the journey north, some of us will be travelling up on Saturday and others on Sunday morning. The game throws in at 2.30pm and the referee is Ulsterman Ciaran Branagan, who will hopefully have a good day at the office!

This isn’t actually our car, despite its regular appearance on this website. If this is your car, get in touch!

Getting There and Parking

Celtic Park, Derry. Green and red, a grand-looking spot

We’ll leave you to find the ground using our map below, but by all accounts it’s easy to get to. Parking is not too bad at all around Celtic Park – there is plenty of on-street parking within walking distance. No concerns there whatsoever! This is all sounding very easy.
Anyone travelling in from the Letterkenny side will come in by the Brandywell, home of Derry City Football Club which is located beside Celtic Park. There is parking along this area. People travelling through Strabane will come in towards the city centre but turn left at the first bridge across the Foyle. You will come down by the Bogside.
If coming via Dublin you will arrive on the other side of the river. Cross the Craigavon bridge then at the end take a left, you can then travel to the lights, a left turn or straight on will give you a space near the ground.

Bus Travel

Our friends in the The Sea Rod Inn Doohoma are organising their customary bus on the day – contact Barrett Coaches 09783544 or Sean MC on 0851698851 for details.
Corduff Travel will be leaving from Westport and have package deals – contact them on 097 88949.
TMG Transport will be leaving Swinford, (details to follow) – contact them on 094 9044534.
There’s a bus leaving from Shrule/Glencorrib on Sunday too – contact Tom Sheridan on 087 925 6326 for details.

We’ve no knowledge of anyone organising a bus from Dublin though we’ve been contacted by a few people enquiring about same. If you’re interested in organising a bus or travelling on one, or indeed doing some car pooling, please leave a comment below. Otherwise the 6am from Busáras is your best bet (there’s a 10am too that arrives in Derry at 2pm but you may be cutting it fine …). Timetable here.

Accomodation

Most people traveling up to Derry the night before will have already booked accommodation. However if you haven’t booked yet, you might still be in luck! We have found this site here offering discounts to travelling supporters, Derry GAA Hotel Offers – quote “Visit Derry GAA 2015″ at time of booking.
Our spies have informed us that The Drummond Hotel in Ballykelly which is about 13 miles from Derry are doing a special rate for Mayo supporters too.
And the Waterfoot Hotel is a nice spot with a few Mayo heads already booked in.

On the town

If there is anyone staying in Limavady on the Saturday night make sure to call into Frank Owens’ Bar on Main Street, where they will have music and a FREE BBQ!! for all Mayo fans! Club 51 will be heading out from Derry in that direction along with what we hear half of Ballintubber and Claremorris, and it promises to be a great night. Visit their facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/frankowensbar.
For those of you heading for town, Granny Annie’s Bar is a good spot.
Taxis:
- City Cabs are a reliable taxi firm can be contacted on 028 7126 4466 or e-mail info@citycabsderry.com.
- Limavady Taxi 02877768822,
- Bells Taxi 02877763929,
- Valley Cabs 02877722888,
- Alpha Taxi 02877769880.
- And if anyone is ringing from the Republic in advance to book then dial 048 instead of 028!

Sunday Meet-up

(This is the part you’ve been waiting for, right?)

We usually have our regular meet-up on the morning of a match. There are not many hostelries around Celtic Park, the Bogside Inn a ten-minute walk way is the closest and that’s where we’re heading. Doors are open from 11.30am (unlike in Newbridge last year, we actually checked!) and there will be red and green (and black and lime) jerseys congregating there from 12pm – be sure and join us. Map below:

Flags

As it’s an away game, the more colour we can bring, the better. And the more noise we can make, the better. We’ll be giving our banners and flags their first proper airing this year, so help us out, bring your own and let’s make that stand a noisy sea of green and red.

Safe travelling and see you there!

PS: A sincere thank you to the very sound Niamh Morley, Joe Passmore, Jarlath Eoin and Mayo GAA for the helpful information. We’ll be updating as we hear more so check back often!

Tom Parsons reaches for the ball as Mayo defeat a second-string Derry team in Castlebar in 2014. Andy Moran meanwhile has spotted a UFO over MacHale Park. Pic: MichaelMaye.com

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The crew behind the scenes who keep the Club '51 lights on!
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