THE LAST POINT: The power of the crowd

Never has the advantage of playing at home been more clearly spelt out than watching last weekend's gaelic games action - we had a team taking the wrong road to a venue and getting delayed en-route to accentuate home advantage even more if that was possible but as always, truth is sometimes stranger than fiction.

Louth's ponderous journey to Ballybofey on Sunday may not have changed the result but it certainly can't have helped given how rigorous inter-county set-ups are in relation to their match day itinerary - when to meet up, when to eat, Garda escorts to get through match-day traffic, how long to warm-up and  practicing pre-match parades in their desire to account for every aspect of what might happen on the day.

I saw that first hand on the day of Leitrim's postponed TG4 LGFA All-Ireland SFC clash with Dublin - suddenly players had to decide if they would  stay in Dublin with family or friends or head back home on the bus while nutritionist Denise Stenson had a headache as she now had to arrange  for the Leitrim players to get the right fuelling for a game on the Sunday that nobody was anticipating!

While Jonny Garrity's troops had all that to contend with, the Dubs could go home at their leisure and didn't have  what would have amounted to six plus  hours on a bus over 36 hours in their legs when the two teams eventually got onto the field the next day.

It was something Waterford had to contend with last Saturday - I don't know if they travelled on the Friday or did what more than one Deise men's team have done in the past by travelling on the morning of the game but either way, their three and a half hour journey, according to Google Maps, can't have helped them as they chased the 35 point target Dublin had set them the previous week.

THE LAST POINT: WORN DOWN N THE ROCKY ROAD TO DUBLIN

Despite stern Leitrim resistance, Waterford made a go of it, coming within 14 points of their target.  Waterford's reward for not topping the group  is a two and a half hour journey, at least, to Tuam to take on Galway instead of home advantage and when a game is on the line, the small margins matter.

I've often wondered about the benefits of home advantage in a Leitrim context - most of the men's most famous victories have come away from Avant Money Pairc Sean Mac Diarmada, visiting teams all too aware that they're going to get a stern test when they visit Carrick and they prepare accordingly, both mentally and physically.

Away from home, Leitrim  are unburdened and play the better for it, bringing off some big wins on foreign soil so to speak. It is not that the Pairc Sean crowd is too demanding - far from it, the wholehearted support they get is wonderful but when the Green & Gold hordes are on the road, as in Portlaoise, Newcastlewest, Carlow and Thurles' Semple Stadium, the local fans are astonished at the turnout of Leitrim folk, often times wondering where we all mad!

So, it is fair to say I somewhat conflicted about the mythical benefits of home advantage - playing at home is comforting and you don't have the  fatigue and hassle of travel but some of Leitrim’s most memorable displays have been on the road, Glennon Brothers Pearse Park a de-facto home away from home last year for Andy Moran's footballers and this year for Mike Wall's hurlers.

Dublin's use of Croke Park for their footballers' home League games and Leinster campaigns excites quite a bit of commentary, a lot of it justified  and, of course, it is a huge help but more than one All Ireland Final has seen the 'home fans' outnumbered by Mayo's vast travelling army. When the Dubs couldn't get over the line, Croker was as much a hindrance as an advantage as the Blue Army's mood swings often transmitted itself to the players on the field. 

Home advantage never seemed to matter to the Capital's hurlers - at least not until last Saturday when Dublin pulled off a stunning shock by knocking the Limerick giant out of the race for the Liam McCarthy Cup. Hurling people up and down the country can't believe it but, as good as the Dubs were on the day, I wonder would they have pulled it off if the game wasn't in Croke Park?

Strange thing is, the Dublin hurlers much prefer the claustrophobic confines of Parnell Park to GAA headquarters - they've fallen flat so often on Jones Road that Donnycarney is where they seem to thrive most, the traditional superpowers reveling in the wide open spaces of Croker, their ease in the venue exposing various chinks in Dublin's armour.

The hurling quarter-finals were scheduled for neutral venues but it appears Limerick had no qualms about playing in the capital - maybe they felt a game in Croker would stand to them come the semi-finals as they sought to get back on track following their Munster Final penalty shootout heartache. And who could blame them because nobody but the most blinkered Dub saw this coming.

Dublin boss Niall O'Callaghan was bullish in his interviews with the media afterwards, utilising the old manager's playbook of 'nobody gave us a chance here today but we knew we could do it' mantra that is incredibly popular once you win. But there was good reason for thinking the Treaty men would ride roughshod over the boys in blue as the Dubs have flattered to deceive all too often?

So what changed? Maybe it was just pure thickness once their captain Chris Crummey saw red 15 minutes into the game - the Dubs are not alone in possessing a streak that sees them play like supermen when they lose a man and perhaps Limerick fell into the trap of complacency.

But one thing you can't ignore was the impact of the crowd - the Dubs streamed into Croker much earlier than usual for a double header and the backing the hurlers, so often the poor relations in regard to the Hill, easily eclipsed the noise the footballers generated by a fair magnitude and that certainly transmitted itself onto the pitch in the closing stages.

THE LAST POINT: A REMINDER OF THE ESSENCE OF SPORT

The footballers, so often the main attraction, were caught up in the drama, so much so that Dessie Farrell had a bit of trouble getting his football squad into the Hogan Stand dressing rooms, engrossed as they were by the bedlam and tumult on the hallowed turf, leaving me to genuinely wonder would Dublin have won if the game wasn't in Croker?

Limerick supporters were there in big numbers and certainly got behind their team but they came up against implacable opponents backed by an increasingly enthusiastic Blue Army and it had to have made a difference. Those hordes were in early, not waiting for the football as the Dubs streamed up Clonliffe Road in droves well before the throw-in.

Maybe it made a difference, maybe it didn't but as fatigue threatened to overwhelm the hurlers, a man down in the stifling heat, that support must have felt like rocket fuel to the underdogs. I don't know how far the Dubs can go, the Red Army will vastly outnumber them in the semi final but Saturday's drama overload was a potent reminder of just how powerful a crowd getting behind their team truly can be!