Almost half a century ago, Michael Kelly, a young farmer from the village of Bennettsbridge, took the Saturday evening train to Dublin with his hurling team-mates "after a day harvesting corn".
They spent the night at the Hollybrook Hotel in Clontarf and on the following day he led Kilkenny in the traditional parade around Croke Park before they defeated Waterford 4-10 to 3-12 in the closely contested 1957 All-Ireland Hurling Final.
Yesterday, while coaching his three-year-old grandson, Josh, Mr Kelly recalled "we were six points down with quarter of an hour to go but made a comeback to level". He famously scored a point "from his knees" and then hit the winning point in the closing minutes of the game.
Now 76, Mr Kelly is the oldest surviving captain of an All-Ireland- winning Kilkenny senior hurling team.
Tomorrow morning he will make the journey to Croke Park once again and is "ready to play if they need me".
He paid €240 to buy tickets for himself, his wife Josie, daughter Ethel and son Gerard, and expects to see his successor as captain, 24-year-old student Jackie Tyrrell, lead Kilkenny to a 29th victory.
Mr Kelly said yesterday that "all the ex-players have the worst tickets". There have been many complaints in Kilkenny about the quantity and quality of the tickets allocated to the county.
The "official" allocation was only 8,500 but a last minute scramble is under way today as more tickets find their way to Kilkenny from other counties. A crowd of over 82,000 is expected at Croke Park and it is estimated that between 15,000 and 20,000 of them will be Kilkenny fans - equivalent to almost a quarter of the county's population. A fleet of privately hired buses, cars and fully booked trains will depart from early morning.
Hundreds of fans are expected to attend a post-match reception at Dublin's Citywest Hotel. The Kilkenny team was named last night after a final "light training session" in Nowlan Park. They will return to the Marble City on Monday afternoon where, whatever the result, a major homecoming parade and civic reception are already being planned.
Members of the folk group Uisce Beatha released their single "Welcome Liam McCarthy II" at a Kilkenny record store yesterday. Singer Tommy Mackey said they were thrilled at the prospect of their live performance on RTÉ's Up For The Match tonight.
One Kilkenny man certain to get his hands on the Liam McCarthy cup is Nicky Brennan, who will be attending his first All-Ireland final as president of the GAA.
