A GAA fan who was snapped watching hurling on her phone at an Ed Sheeran gig in Croke Park has explained that she was glued to the match for her late dad.
Grainne Fennell was at the famous stadium for the biggest concert in the country on Saturday at the same time as Limerick beat Waterford in the Munster Hurling Championship.
She was in Croker because her bighearted uncle Bob got tickets to provide respite to loving daughter Grainne and her family from their grief after her former soldier dad John McSweeney sadly died last October.
The Sheeran gig was 42 years after Grainne’s father John and her pregnant mother Pauline needed a Garda escort to get to the National Maternity Hospital in Holles Street, Dublin, in 1980 for Grainne’s birth.
Grainne, 41, said: “They were living in Dublin at the time and my mum was heavily pregnant with me, but the doctor said there was no sign of me coming, so they went to Limerick for my uncle Kieran’s wedding.
“My mother’s waters broke and, in the end, they needed a Garda escort to reach Holles Street.
“But I took my time, which meant dad missed most of the All Ireland [Hurling] Final between Limerick and Galway on September 7, 1980.”
Limerick lost on a score of 2-15 to 3-09, so when the 2018 final arrived, also against Galway, dad John took daughter Grainne with him to Croker.
Grainne said: “Dad joked before the game that if Limerick lost again, ‘You will be banned from every match and probably from Limerick’.
“Limerick won [on a score of 3-16 to 2-18] and dad got a bit emotional, as it had been 45 years.
“He gave me a hug, which was a fabulous moment, and he looked at me and said, ‘Thank God for that; you’re forgiven’.
“We re-wrote history that day.”
The family was in lockdown for the 2020 final, which Limerick won again, beating Waterford on a score of 0-30 to 0-19.
Then, in July 2021, dad John was diagnosed with lung and liver cancer, so at the time of the 2021 final in September, the family stayed at home together to see Limerick beat Cork 3-32 to 1-22, just a few weeks before John died on October 11.
Loving father John, who worked for the ESB, is sadly missed by wife Pauline, children Mairead, Grainne and Eoin, plus their partners, his adored grandchildren, and former colleagues.
John’s brother Bob got tickets to Ed Sheeran and asked Grainne to go with her mum Pauline, sister Mairead, Grainne’s daughters Lena and Lily, and niece Caoilinn.
The photo of Grainne watching the hurling went viral when RTE’s GAA presenter Des Cahill tweeted a picture of it.
Grainne told the Irish Mirror: “I just had to watch the match. Dad was a very strong person, so there is still a lot of disbelief in the family.
“We are doing the best we can to get through it and my uncle got us the tickets to get a break from the grief.
“There’s no break from grief, but the concert did help.”
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