Pilgrimage: Aberdeen Heritage Trust's Emerald Isle Tour
Emerald Isle Tour 2022
AFCHT trustees Jock Gardiner and Bob Bain completed their third fundraising tour between 8-12 June 2022 visiting all 15 locations in Ireland where the Dons have played a match, in addition the Red Army ambassadors also pitched up at all the Irish League grounds and many venues in the Republic including Aviva Stadium, where with their Tartan Army regalia on, they saw Scotland capitulate to Eire.
The original plan had been to make the Irish pilgrimage in 2020, but due to the covid pandemic they were thwarted and adorned with “AFCHT Irish Tour 2020” t-shirts they set sail with Stena Line from Cairnryan to Belfast on the early ferry after cheering on Scotland to a 2-0 victory at Hampden against Armenia.
First port of call was The Oval, home of Glentoran in East Belfast, where the lads were met by club manager Mick McDermott, his wife Karla and other club officials and presented the first of many Aberdeen FC pennants to their hosts, which we were assured would take pride of place in the magnificent “olde world” boardroom. Next up was a stop at Taylor’s Avenue home of Carrick Rangers before a warm welcome at Inver Park Larne where the AFCHT men were presented with club goodie bags by Neil and Niall and photos with the magnificent County Antrim Shield. Travelling through County Antrim to Ballymena United and Coleraine’s Showgrounds, we arrived in Derry and after taking in historic sites (Free Derry corner and the city walls) pitched up at Brandywell, renamed Ryan McBride Stadium in tribute to an ex-player where the Dons had played back in 1932, a warm welcome including tour of the control room ensued.
Into County Donegal, the tour continued to Ballybofey, where ex-Don player, assistant manager and now AFC Director Willie Garner asked us to pass on his good wishes to the Finn Harps officials (Willie played in a 4-2 friendly defeat at Finn Park in 1976). A long schlep through rolling countryside to Dungannon Swifts Stangmore Park, followed by Glenavon’s Mourneview Park in Lurgan was made worthwhile as both grounds were unlocked allowing AFCHT to take photos in the early evening sunshine. Our final ground visit of Day One on the Emerald Isle was a memorable one to Portadown’s Shamrock Park, where the old (now out of use) stand took pride of place opposite the current main stand and a warm welcome and chat about Stevie Cowan and Dougie Bell ensued, both players having played in the red shirts of The Dons and The Ports.
We rested overnight after a decent curry in the border town of Newry and had an early morning photo-shoot at The Showgrounds, home of promoted club Newry City before heading south to Dundalk, where the Dons have played at both Athletic Grounds (now a modern housing complex) and their current ground Oriel Park, where thanks to the club’s youth team coaches we were allowed into the ground to take photos. Next up was Drogheda United’s Head in the Game Park, before arriving in the leafy up-market north Dublin town of Malahide, where the Dons played Leinster League side Malahide United at their new Gannon Park ground in 2013. Pennant exchanges and story exchanges of football travels with their groundsman, set us up for the long slog (180 miles) south to Cork, or to be more precise Fota Island Resort where Aberdeen played Cobh Ramblers in a pre-season friendly in 2018 and returned the following year to meet Welsh side Connah’s Quay Nomads.
A brief stop to take photos of the training pitch currently adorned with Gaelic football/hurling goals and it was back up the motorway to Tallaght, a fast-growing suburb of South West Dublin to visit Tallaght Stadium, the new home of Eire’s most successful side Shamrock Rovers. We arrived just as a friendly match with Galway United was finishing, but did’nt miss much as a low key goalless draw was played out. Tallaght is the largest club ground in Eire with three modern stands and an 8,000 all-seater capacity, the friendly club shop staff happily received an AFC club pennant which will adorn the Shamrock Rovers boardroom in recognition of previous matches between the Reds and the Hoops.
The final venue for a long day’s travelling was the majestic Dalymount Park, home of Aberdeen’s two time UEFA opponents Bohemian FC and as luck would have it, a hastily arranged friendly with Dundalk ensured our evening entertainment. The North Dublin ground has not changed much in decades and the same weed overgrown terracing where the 60-strong Dons support (including AFCHT trustee Bob Bain) got soaked in 1987 survives. Around 400 spectators including a fair smattering of Tartan Army footsoldiers over for the following day’s Eire v Scotland match attended and enjoyed the draught Guinness from the members’ bar in the bowels of the renovated main stand. AFCHT were entertained by great tales from Boh’s legend clubman Jimmy O’Connor whose shed near the corner flag is a treasure trove of memorabilia.
Saturday morning brought the inevitable hangovers after a long and enjoyable evening out in Dublin’s fair city and a local taxi was commandeered to guide AFCHT to the remaining venues where The Dons had played in the Irish capital. First up was to Inchicore and Richmond Park, home of St Patrick’s Athletic, venue for a 2-2 pre-season match in 2014 watched by 500, where despite ringing the door bell of house number 125 (the club offices) there was no answer, so external photos of the ground entrance has to suffice. Over the River Liffey to Tolka Park, home of Shelbourne and venue for the Dons last UEFA encounter on Irish soil, the infamous 1-0 victory (but aggregate away goals defeat to Bohemian in 2000 under Ebbe Skovdahl (RIP)). The entrance gate was ajar and we were welcomed by the kitman and groundsman who provided a guided tour of the ground and presented AFCHT with Shelbourne replica home kits for the Aberdeen Collection. Tolka Park is exactly as it was back in 2000 and provided great memories of a wonderful trip 22 years ago (barring the result of course !). Next up was to the Ringsend district south of the Liffey to the Shelbourne Greyhound Stadium, which was the venue for the Dons friendly matches with Shelbourne in 1929 and 1932. The current stadium has a new main stand (and excellent view over to the Aviva Stadium) but otherwise the layout of the venue is similar to that of ninety years ago.
The leafy suburbs of University College Dublin and UCD Bowl where Aberdeen beat UCD 4-0 in a pre-season friendly in 2013 allowed AFCHT to take photos of the ground and its one stand adorned with blue plastic seats. The final site where the Dons had played in Dublin was nearby Glenmalure Park, the previous home of Shamrock Rovers, which sadly had been sold by the then owners the reviled Kilcoyne family for housing, leaving the Hoops homeless for decades before their ultimate move to Tallaght. At least there is a memorial obelisk at the Glenmalure Square housing development as recognition of the Milltown ground where Rovers played.
Next up was a swift clothes change from the red AFCHT Emerald Isle tour t-shirts to the dark blue Scotland National team replica home shirts for the obligatory pre-match pints ahead of Eire v Scotland at a near sell-out Aviva Stadium. The less said about the match the better, suffice to day that both sets of supporters enjoyed the celebrations/drowned their sorrows in the time honoured fashion of mutual respect.
An early Sunday morning breakfast at our Dublin hotel before heading 110 miles north to Belfast to visit the final four grounds of our trip was next on the agenda. Distillery played at Grosvenor Park in West Belfast up until the Troubles, when sadly the ground was firebombed as it was located in an area between the republican and loyalist communities. It is now part grass parkland/part motorway on Distillery Street, off the Grosvenor Road. It is hard to imagine that 10,000 spectators saw Aberdeen lose 7-2 at the venue in 1909, the Black & Golds first match on Irish soil.
North Belfast rivals Crusaders and Cliftonville were the penultimate clubs on our trip, and in both cases we managed to get into the stadia as Sunday morning organised kids matches were being played. Seaview, home to the Crues is in the loyalist Shore Road area (the murals making it very clear this was a Protestant area), is a tidy all-seater ground holding 3,383 with a welcoming social club and interesting history boards of the development of football in Belfast. An AFC pennant was handed over and will take pride of place in the club bar alongside the recently won Irish Cup !
Nearby Solitude is home to Cliftonville, the oldest club in Ireland situated in a republican district off the Cliftonville Road (green, white and orange bunting here) and supported by Belfast’s Red Army as the murals proudly depict. Our AFC pennant was warmly received and will be displayed in the Reds clubrooms for all visitors to see. The out of commission main stand and clubhouse have seen better days, but provide great memories of “old school” football stadia.
Our final venue of the AFCHT Emerald Isle 2022 Tour was Windsor Park, home of Northern Ireland and the country’s most successful club side Linfield. Fortuitously we had secured tickets for the Nations League match against Cyprus from a Norn Iron season ticket holder who was still in Kosovo after their midweek match and received a warm welcome in our Scotland shirts. Niall McGinn turned the match around for the home side creating both goals to rescue a point in an entertaining 2-2 draw, in what is now a modern 18,600 all-seater venue. Windsor Park would have looked very different when The Dons played an Irish League XI in a post WW2 benefit match in 1946.
AFCHT received a magnificent welcome at all the venues where we met club officials and fans throughout our Irish ground trip, we enjoyed a final meal at ex-Dandy legend the aforementioned Niall McGinn’s Pizza on the Square in central Belfast before heading to the ferry and an ultimate return to Pittodrie Stadium at 2am having travelled 1,400 miles on our Emerald Isle Tour 2022.
Slainte !!