Some of you may be old enough to remember those distant days when we togged off under prickly blackberry bushes at the side of some farmer’s kindly donated field before a game of football or hurling, recalls An Fear Rua...

You made sure not to step into a puddle of cow dung while struggling out of your trousers on one foot and folded your clothes with your coat on the outside in a vain attempt to ward off the drenching from the perennial showers of rain. To adapt a comment of the late Limerick poet, Michael Hartnett, about his impoverished Christmases in Newcastle West: ‘Thanks be to God we don’t have GAA matches like that anymore!’.

Yes, indeed, no amount of nostalgia would enthuse any of us for returning to the ‘good old days’ in the GAA. Instead, the playing of the first ever inter-county competitive match under floodlights in Croke Park is a sign of how far we have progressed from the days of blackberry bushes and cow pats. Croke Park tonight, under lights, is a highly visible testament to the Association’s ability not only to adapt to changing circumstances but to master them. Whether it was the arrival of radio and television broadcasting, the decision to rescind the old Rules 26 and 21, the opening up of Croke Park to international matches in other codes or the eager adoption of the Internet, the GAA has always made the best of change. Playing games under floodlights is just the latest example.

This, of course, is not the first GAA match to be played under lights, nor even the first inter-county match. In fact, increasingly up and down the country, even under-age football matches are being played under lights. But it is a special occasion because it is the first time in Croke Park, the headquarters of the Association, the very epicentre of Gaelic games.

Croke Park holds a special place, not only in the history of Gaelic games but in the hearts and memories of tens of thousands of players and followers because of the many memorable occasions here over the years. Tonight is another such occasion. There is really something extra special about watching a game under floodlights – whether it is the way the green of the sward gains an extra glow like an emerald or the huddled camaraderie of the spectators focussed on the glow from the field, surrounded by a blanket of darkness. In time to come, maybe some grannies and granddads will tell the little ones: ‘Yes, I was there the first night under lights, the night the Dubs played Tyrone and I’ve never forgotten it’. They may not be as numerous as those who claimed to be in the GPO in 1916 but at least in Croker they will all be housed more comfortably.

It is good that the players and fans of today are enjoying the benefits of farsighted and courageous decisions made by GAA people over the years. Good, too, that the first teams to play under lights are Dublin and Tyrone – Dublin representing the capital city and county, Tyrone who have done so much to adorn the game of football in recent years.

It all seems such a long way from the decision in 1908 by Frank Dineen, a Limerick-born stalwart of the GAA, to lay out £3,250 of his own hard earned money to buy the old ‘City and Suburban Racecourse’ on this site and the subsequent initiative, in 1913, by Luke O’Toole, the then General Secretary, for the GAA to purchase and own the site, which was immediately named ‘Croke Park’.

It has been a great journey together since then. Tonight’s game confirms for us that the best is yet to come.

Courtesy of Dublin County Board's match programme for the 1st round NFL tie between Dublin and Tyrone

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