Away Days – The Rebel County

If like me you arrived in Cork on Tuesday afternoon you could be forgiven for thinking that Celtic were playing in a Champions League summer qualifier. Celtic were in the city not for a competitive game but for a pre-season friendly.

The trains from early morning from Dublin on match day had a fair amount of Celtic supporters on route to the Rebel County. Cork natives were still in celebration mode after reaching the All Ireland Hurling final on Sunday after they beat Dublin in Croke Park.

I arrived into the city on the train in the early afternoon on a sweltering hot day. Celtic fans packed many of the city centre bars and no matter what street you turned onto you met Celtic fans sporting the famous hooped shirts of Glasgow’s finest.

I made my way to the Gallows Bar with a few refreshment stops on the way meeting up with some familiar faces from our travels over the years. The Gallows was packed when we arrived and it was great to finally meet up with the Ratton brothers from Sunderland who have been great supporters over the years to both the fanzine and the podcast.

I jumped on Cork No.1 Pat Glavin 1888 CSC bus to the game and although I knew there were plenty of Celtic fans in the city it wasn’t until we got to the stadium that I realised just how many were attending the game. There was a sea of supporters walking to the ground for the 6pm kick off.

The stadium is a fine one and it was nice to be back on a terrace watching Celtic. The Celtic team had a familiar look to it in the first half and in the second half it was a much more experimental side. The promoters of the Event had used local bhoy, Adam Idah as the poster boy for the game billed as the Cork Super Cup but he did not play any part in the game.

After the game which Celtic won 2-1, it was back to the Gallows for a few pints of Murphys Stout and a ballad session before catching a night bus home. I arrived home tired at 4am after another great day following the famous Glasgow Celtic. Next stop Portugal.

A full away days article will appear in the next issue of the fanzine and we will get some of the pictures of the trip up on the socials.

Andrew Milne is Editor of More than 90 Minutes and Host of the Celtic Soul Podcast