The Gaelic Grounds will be like entering the Colosseum

THERE was only one flag flying from my window when I was six years of age – and it wasn’t Limerick’s. 

Instead, it was the saffron and blue of our near neighbours, Clare.

My father must have wondered what he was rearing, but there was context to it.

Across the road lived Ger Hoey, a stalwart of St Joseph’s Doora-Barefield, with whom he won an All-Ireland club title in 1999, alongside Banner legends Ollie Baker, Seanie McMahon and Jamesie O’Connor.

Ger brought me to many a training session in Roslevan and so I associated more with those Clare players than I did with Limerick’s at that time.

With the innocence of youth and my sense of place not having kicked in yet, it was Clare that I wanted to win when the two counties collided.

How times have changed.

If you’re not from Clare or Limerick, it’s something that may be difficult to grasp.