While we were enjoying our time in Ireland, a winter storm was forming back home. I first noticed news of this on Friday evening when I used the Delta app to check our flight details and saw that a weather waiver was offered as New York City was likely to be hit by a blizzard on Monday, the day of our flight. This was good news for us as we were able to move our flight back to Tuesday without incurring a charge. Even better, there was a League of Ireland match Monday night featuring the most successful club in the league, Shamrock Rovers. So after a day of touring Dublin, I rode the tram 40 minutes to the terminus in Tallaght (pronounced Talla) and walked over to Tallaght Stadium to see the Rovers hosting Dundalk.
The stadium has four distinct stands and I picked up a ticket in the main stand for €20 as it was the closest to the box office and the only sideline stand open to the home fans. Most fans think the same and there were few seats available on this side; across the way in the East stand there were a lot of seats but those are for visiting fans. It is rare for visiting fans to receive so much space and on the sideline as well, so the Rovers are good hosts at least.
The stadium opened in 2009, nearly nine years after ground was broken as there were several legal entanglements that are beyond the scope of this post but which resulted in many, many delays. At first, capacity was just 3,000 but over time, additional stands were erected and now the venue can hold 10,547. On this night, there were 4,352 on hand, a good crowd for a rescheduled match on a Monday night.
The South stand (above) is where the more vocal supporters sit and that was quite busy, while the North stand (below), which was opened in 2024 to bring the stadium up to UEFA Category 4 standards, was less appealing.
You could not walk between the stands so once I found my seat, I stayed there. As such, there's not much more to write. Few tourists to Dublin would bother to make the trip to see this stadium, but I am glad that the two reschedulings allowed me to do so for a milestone venue visit.
The Game
The match was originally scheduled for the first day of the season on February 6, but a waterlogged pitch (not uncommon in Ireland from what I could tell) forced it to be moved. So a bit of Shamrock luck on that side too. The Rovers had won their first match of the season on Friday after a couple of postponements, while Dundalk had two draws. The Rovers did compete in the Europa Conference League, winning once and drawing once out of six matches to finish 31st of 36 clubs and miss out on the knockout stages.
In the 19th minute, Rovers, clad in green and white stripes, had a free kick from outside the box and Jack Byrne sent in the cross where captain Rodrigo Lopes headed it home for the 1-0 lead.
The second half saw Dundalk apply some pressure, but they could not equalize. Vinnie Leonard (#15 below) was on a yellow card and then committed another foul which resulted in a straight red in the 75th minute. It sure looked like Dundalk was done for, but they did not give up.
In the 90th minute, the visitors had a corner and it swung in under the crossbar, forcing keeper Ed McGinty into the net as he tried to catch the ball. He had no choice but to drop it and Danny Mullen tapped it home to tie the match on a rather weird goal. There were six minutes of stoppage time but Rovers could not take advantage of their extra man and the affair finished in a 1-1 draw.
Highlights are here and eagle-eyed readers can see me alone in the third row on the aisle in Section 101 around 45 seconds.
Notes
The milestone was that this was my 1,200th venue lifetime.
Best,
Sean
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