Long before the Killeshin Pipe Band led the pre-match parade, the main stand in Netwatch Cullen Park was already wedged.
They were packed in on the terraces too for an evening of hurling, entertainment and, most importantly, fundraising in the fight against a common enemy.
Joe Canning summed up the remarkable machine that the Hurling for Cancer charity game has become when he told the crowd in an interview that he was late because of the traffic around Carlow Town.
Jim Bolger’s Stars won the game although, truth be told, nobody seemed too bothered. Not even the Stars themselves. Their official tally of 9-25 was actually way off. The scoreboard couldn’t go into double figures for goals so three points were added on instead for the last few goals. And even at that, whoever was working the machine failed to include the very last of those goals, scored in garbage time by former Kilkenny star Walter Walsh.
A lax approach was obvious enough after the very first play. Lee Chin whipped a pass across the pitch to TJ Reid who appeared to split the posts routinely enough but with the umpires appearing to forget their duties, no flag was raised. So no score stood.
Tipperary great Brendan Cummins, fresh from his battle with Annaverna Mountain in the All-Ireland Poc Fada final, defied his birth certificate again. In the first 10 minutes, the 50-year-old pulled off five different goal saves, thwarting the efforts of Adam Screeney, Dublin dual star Con O’Callaghan, Rory O’Connor and TJ Reid. Each of the saves got a giant cheer.
Aidan McCarthy came on for Jim Bolger’s All-Stars and scored their sixth goal, prompting Marty Morrissey and Anthony Daly on the live stadium commentary to suggest that he might use it as a springboard to a county return in 2026. Fingers will remain crossed in Clare.
Not even the promise of a free night in a Liam Griffin-owned hotel for the Man of the Match prompted any great increase in intensity.
Rather, it was an evening for tricks and skills, overhead pulls and ground strikes. Bolger’s crew hit the interval with a 8-7 to 4-7 advantage.
Despite what the official scoreline suggested at the end of the game, the players in yellow added another seven goals before full-time.
Those goals came from the hurls of Offaly duo Brian Duignan and Brian Carroll, who struck a brace of goals apiece, Kilkenny great Eddie Brennan, Reid and Walsh.
Commentator Aisling O’Reilly showed her skills with 1-1 for Davy Russell’s Best. Dublin brothers Brian and Ronan Hayes also struck goals for the reds while Sean Carroll reeled off a hat-trick of late points for them.
It was an evening when smiles were more important than scores though and the players and various celebrities hung around on the field afterwards to sign autographs and pose for selfies. For once on a GAA pitch, it turned out that everyone was a winner.