We want a ticket.
Hurling is set to be get another major international boost in just over two months when Fenway Park – the home of the Boston Red Sox, and possibly the most famous ballpark in the world – will host a special match.
It was announced today that the home ground of sluggers like Babe Ruth and Ted Williams will play host to hurlers from Dublin and Galway in the AIG Fenway Hurling Classic on November 22nd.
The game, which will be in Super 11s format, will form the centrepiece of an Irish festival taking place in Boston at the end of November.
The Dublin-Tribesmen clash will be preceded 24 hours earlier by a college football game between Boston College and Notre Dame, also at Fenway.
Hurling was last played in Fenway back in 1954 when Cork played an American selection, however this year’s format somewhat different to that one-sided contest over 50 years ago.
America has witnessed Super 11s hurling before, in 2013, when a Leinster and Munster selection faced off at the Notre Dame University campus in front of 5,000 spectators.
The rules only allow goals to be scored, and the pitch dimensions are slightly different, so considering this year’s two Leinster SHC clashes between Dublin and Galway witnessed seven goals, we’re expecting a high scoring contest.
The pair drew in Croke Park before Galway strolled to victory in their quarter-final replay, 5-19 to 1-18. Work commitments allowing, both panels will be keen to travel, but with teams reduced in four by number, the Dubs will be hoping Jason Flynn, Cathal Mannion and Joe Canning don’t make it to the ball game. Between them the trio notched 5-15 of the beaten All-Ireland finalists total that day.
