‘Fierce bad weather but I didn’t feel it’: Limerick fan recalls '73 trip to Croker on a Honda

PICTURE the scene: two young Limerick men atop a small Honda motorbike, on their way from the Treaty County to the capital for the All-Ireland hurling final.

The year was 1973, and Limerick had not been in an All-Ireland final since 1940. For many young adults at the time, it was the first Limerick victory they would witness.

And that was the case for John B Kiely and Mike Fitzgerald from Croom, who were so eager to be at the game against Kilkenny on the Sunday, that they set off for Dublin on the Saturday.

What a sight it must have been – Mike at the front of the bike, John behind him, and a flag post stuck onto the back, proudly flying the green and white.

In the days before the motorway, the pair motored on the Honda through more than 100 miles of towns and villages before reaching Kildare, where they decided to park up for the night.

“We went up on the bike on the Saturday, and we thought it was a grand job going up,” said John, who now calls Fedamore his home.

“We picked up a post and put it on the back of the bike and put up a Limerick flag on it. We reached Kildare some time that evening, and we had a singing session there. We didn’t go any further that night,” he said.

John was 24 at the time of the 270-mile return journey. He played football and hurling with Croom for a number of years, and is now an umpire for the GAA. His son is a referee.

The story about the well-known motorbike journey has  been doing the rounds again since the Limerick win two weeks ago, with many locals remembering the two lads who headed off into the bad weather on a Honda.

“Some people put us up that night in Kildare – we met them in the pub, and they just put us into their sitting room for the night, because every place was full. We went to the local convent that night actually, looking for a place to stay, but they wouldn’t let us in,” laughed John.

“On the Sunday we arrived up, but we got drowned wet. Unfortunately, I lost my brother’s new coat, and that was the end of it. I presume it was at the match I lost it. I came back to Limerick without the coat, and it was fierce bad weather but I didn’t feel it!

“It was a great experience,” he said of his fond memories of 1973, proving that the journey is sometimes almost as eventful and memorable as the destination itself.

And two weeks ago, John again travelled up to the match – albeit this time more comfortably – to enjoy another stunning victory 45 years on, by a team helmed in 2018 by his namesake, John Kiely.