The old ground has been warmed by sunnier St Patrick's Days and trembled to finer matches but yesterday's Croke Park stories held fruit enough to make them memorable. Athenry, grave and puritanical all season, came from the west and reclaimed the All-Ireland hurling title they first won in 1997 and Crossmaglen, as is becoming habit, drove south to take their third football All-Ireland since '97.
A joyless day then for St Joseph's from Clare, who defended their hurling prize with stout hearts and for Na Fianna, the Dublin city football club who, like so many teams before them, struggled to fathom the power of their Ulster opponents.
Rarely has the stadium looked so odd. The crowds, dressed for winter, were corralled into the Cusack and Hill ends, with the empty canal end stand lonesome to the left and the debris of the levelled Hogan Stand as backdrop for the action.
The hurlers opened the sport, and for all the skill that dances through both sides, the game was blustery and nerve-ridden. Through the grit and uneasy turmoil, a few stood apart. Brian Feeney symbolised Athenry's power and Joe Rabbitte their finesse. He dominated the flow of ball and if he was at fault for anything, it was his selflessness.
"We got the rub of the green," he surmised simply in the cool of the dressingroom." Pat Nally, the manager, put a different slant on it. "If desire will ever win anything, then that's what won this for us."
Across the way, Doora-Barefield manager Louis Mulqueen said simply: "You dread this moment. The bubble burst. You just hate to lose a game like that, especially on the big stage."
Meanwhile, above on the turf, the second act was unfolding. Crossmaglen, bigboned and deceptively sweet footballers, traded scores with the city team for the first quarter of the match before blasting the game open with a decisive dash to lead by five points at half-time.
The crowd - the official attendance was 31,925 - were just settling in for the finale when the champions sought to end the intrigue, with Oisin McConville slipping free for a goal.
Na Fianna breathed deep and fashioned seven points to just a solitary reply but it wasn't enough. Cross, hardly breaking stride, eased away in the closing exchanges.
They are the first team to win the All-Ireland three times in four years. Only two other sides - UCD and St Finbarr's - have engineered back-to-back championship years. And Cathal Short, the best player on view yesterday, broke a hoodoo of his own by nailing his first points in Croke Park.
"It was like trying to hold back an avalanche at the start," sighed Na Fianna manager Paul Caffrey. "I was just blown away by how good they were."
"We knew Na Fianna were capable of coming back and so it was," said Cross manager Joe Kernan. "But it's fantastic to do it again and now we have to look for a three in-a-row."
Hard to bet against them.
