IT FELT more like a wedding than a football match when Shamrock Rovers fans gathered last night for the club’s first match in its new home of Tallaght Stadium. The match against Sligo Rovers marked the end of a nomadic existence suffered by the club, which lost Glenmalure Park, its Milltown home, in 1987 and subsequently lost its bearings as it traipsed around Dublin’s football grounds with financial woes seemingly never far behind.
Mark Lynch, one of the club’s directors, said the homecoming was a “tribute to five years’ work by the board”, adding the stadium would be “second to none in Europe” when completed. The ground has a capacity of 3,500, but work is continuing on a second stand, which should bring capacity to about 7,000.
Hoops fans from home and away mingled at the ground and in the adjoining hotel prior to their side’s game against Sligo, coincidentally their final opponents at Milltown. Hughie Walsh from Crumlin recalled being taken on his father’s bike to see Rovers there, and following the club throughout 40 years spent abroad. Tallaght stadium was a “new life for the club and its fans, and a new life for Tallaght”, he said.
Another supporter, Paul from Celbridge, noted the “400 club” of fans had rescued Rovers when it was threatened with examinership in 2005, and it was now a club “owned by the fans for the fans”.
Overseas visitors also soaked up the pre-match atmosphere. Howard Danaher – who travelled from Marbella, Spain, with son Ethan (8) – recalled first seeing Rovers when John Giles was with the club. Mr Danaher said it was a “fantastic achievement” by the club’s board to get the venue, which is owned by South Dublin County Council, with Shamrock Rovers as anchor tenants.
“Spain has Real Madrid, Barcelona, but there’s nothing to compare to Rovers, and it’s important for Ethan to see the team, even though we’re abroad,” he said. Rowan McFeely, looking freshed-faced despite arriving from Boston earlier yesterday, declared he had to come “because of what Rovers means to me . . . the club has had little success over the years, but having our own stadium means more than success to me”.
