Year 8 Student Plays at Croke Park, Dublin

Congratulations to Eoin McGivney of Year 8 on an incredible experience playing Gaelic football  at Dublin's legendary stadium, Croke Park.

Here's Eoin's account of his experience:

During the summer holidays, I went to Ireland and was invited to play at Croke Park. For those of you who don't know wahat Croke Park is, it's basically the Wembley Stadium of Ireland. Lots of different sports and entertainment take place there but mainly Gaelic football and Hurling.

I was so excited from teh moment I found out the the incredible news that I was going to play there. I played on Sunday 16 August during the half-time interval of Roscommon vs Mayo and it was amazing. Before half-time, we had to get changed so we missed some of the seniors match but that didn't matter.

When it was time to walk out on the pitch, my heart was racing so fast and hard that I thought it was going to burst out of my chest. As we were walking out, I saw one of my dad's neighbours from ireland and waved to him. The noise was so loud an created an incredible atmosphere - there was so much cheering. Some of that walk on to the pitch become a blur but thankfully I can remember most of it.

Just before the start, my dad managed to take a quick picture of me. Then the whistle blew and to be honest, a lot of the game seemed like a blur too but it was so exciting. I got on to the ball a good few times but unfortunately not enough to score. However, that doesn't matter.

When the match was over, we had to hurry off the pitch for more photos to be taken on the sidelines - there were lots of photos. 

The whole experience was incredible and will be a memory that I will treasure and share for the rest of my life. I am dreaming but fully determined to make a return to Croke Park in the future of my Gaelic career.

I played in from of 66,000 spectators in the biggest stadium in Ireland - it doesn't get much better than that !!

Eoin McGivney

Year 8