True blues pin their colours to the mast

THERE IS no sky blue and navy bunting left in Dublin. The flags are gone too, as are the jerseys. And the tickets?

Well, you might just be able to get your hands on a pair if you have about €2,000 to spend and know somebody who knows somebody who has a friend but otherwise you might as well just forget about it.

There have been 16 years of hurt since Dublin last made it to the final, and now that they have made it, the city – or at least parts of it – are drowning in a sea of sky blue.

Yesterday morning a van was doing the rounds in Donaghmede selling the last of the flags and bunting – a fiver a flag, €3.50 for the bunting. Business was said to be very brisk as children lined up, mostly with their mammies, to invest in their county colours.

While tension was mounting across Dublin yesterday, everything reached a shrieking fever pitch in the St Vincent de Paul girls’ national school on Griffith Avenue in Marino.

The girls were allowed swap their bottle green uniforms for the Dublin colours for one day only. Most wore Arnotts-emblazoned shirts – mostly, it seemed, recession-busting hand-me-downs from older siblings. So much for Vodafone’s lucrative sponsorship deal.

Standing out from the crowd was nine-year-old Rachel Breen who instead swapped her uniform for the green and gold of Dublin’s opposition.

“Everyone has been very nice to me and no one is being mean,” she said.

“I don’t think I’ll be teased if Kerry lose.”

Judging from the sceptical looks and mild-mannered slagging of her peers, her theory will definitely be tested on Monday morning if Dublin do finish on top.

While seven-year-old Norah-May Linehan was wearing the Dublin colours, she admitted her loyalties were split. Her mammy is from Donegal and she was in the stands of Croker last month cheering on her maternal homeland against Dublin. “I did cry a little bit when Donegal lost but I will still be cheering Dublin on Sunday,” she said.

The Marino area of the city is the epicentre of Dublin football – Dublin coach Pat Gilroy’s child goes to this school and St Vincent’s GAA club, considered by many to be the spiritual home of the city’s football community, is just up the road.

“There’s been huge excitement this week,” said the school’s headmistress Mary Kavanagh.

“Everyone has brought in bunting and flags and we made a massive card and had everyone sign it and sent it to the boys in blue from the girls in green. Pat Gilroy said it took him an hour to read it. The girls may never see this again. Hopefully they will, maybe even next year, but 16 years is a really long time.”