Weekend Latest (w/e 11 March)

[mypost]

Oh.My.God.

It costs €92 to go to Dublin this Friday and back the next day. The flight leaves at 6.15, in Dublin at 7. Takes at least an hour to get through airport and to a Dart station, that's 8pm. Then depending on what time you get the Dart at it could be 8.45 before you arrive in Bray. You see one half of the match and have to stay in a hotel for the night in Bray/ Dublin costing about €50. Food, tickets etc.

So you pay about €150 to see one half of a game in Bray.

As for your half an hour to Drogheda from Dublin and just over a half hour to Dundalk on a Friday night...

And if you're prepared to leave booking to the last minute, it will cost you 150 quid. If not, there are ways and means of keeping costs down.

Book early for 6.15pm flight + 30 minutes = 6.45. Get your skates on, bypass baggage reclaim, 6.50 out of airport. Bus to Dublin 7 = 20 minutes, Tolka 15 minutes, couple of Euros. Bray via Aircoach. Rovers via flybus direct to Tallaght, or DublinCoach to Red Cow, 10 minutes on Luas. In stadium for ko. Aircoach/Bus Eireann buses from airport 34 kilometres to Drogheda/60 to Dundalk, 10 Euro.

Arrange transport back after the game. Home for 1am. 90 minutes of a game for barely 50 Euro on the night. Repeat 4 times in Dublin every 4 months. No luggage, no hotels, no return flights, no 150 quid. Bit of inconvenience alright, but that's what you have to do if you're prepared to be resourceful, instead of looking for obstacles.

[SkStu]

you're missing one very important element mypost - not everyone is as clinically insane as you

[mypost]

Forgot nothing. Sligo fans looking to justify why they cherry pick games.

You want to go to a game, you use every option available. Don't want to go, you'll find lots of road blocks in your way.

[SkStu]

Superfan!

[pineapple stu]

Book early for 6.15pm flight + 30 minutes = 6.45.

You've to be at the airport at least half an hour before the flight, and it's what - 20 minutes outside of Sligo? So you've to be leaving Sligo about 5pm at the very latest, which you've ignored and which isn't always doable with work. But the best is yet to come...

Get your skates on, bypass baggage reclaim, 6.50 out of airport.

From the tarmac on the plane to outside the airport in five minutes?!

Bray via Aircoach.

The Aircoach to Bray takes over an hour and leaves you a good ten minutes' walk from the ground, and that's if you manage to catch the 7pm one. So the best you can do is be about half an hour late for the game. And it costs you E12 or so.

Rovers via flybus direct to Tallaght, or DublinCoach to Red Cow, 10 minutes on Luas. In stadium for ko.

Flybus departs at a quarter past the hour, and takes 50 minutes to get to Tallaght. DublinCoach also leaves on the half hour, so you'd have to get the 7:30 one, which leaves you in Red Cow for 7:50. Either way, you're going to miss at least half an hour.

Aircoach/Bus Eireann buses from airport 34 kilometres to Drogheda/60 to Dundalk, 10 Euro.

Bus Eireann buses leave the airport at 8:20, and arrive at Drogheda bus station - a couple of miles from the ground - at 9pm, and at Dundalk bus station at 9:35. The previous bus, the 7:20 from the airport, bypasses Drogheda and Dundalk.

Arrange transport back after the game.

Ah, the infamous "Scene missing". And this is to be arranged for free too, it seems.

So for a Sligo fan looking to travel out for the UCD game next month, you're looking at E35 for the flight at the moment, E8 for the Aircoach (which leaves every 15 minutes, would take an hour to get to the flyover and then leave you a 15 minute walk to the ground - so you'd miss the first half-hour), pay in at the gate (E15) and then you're stuck in Dublin with only your mystical "arrange transport back after the game" to rely on. So E58 all told spent - E8 over your budget - and you've only gotten a one-way trip.

Truly you are a complete and utter space cadet of the highest order.

[redobit]

Truly you are a complete and utter space cadet of the highest order.

I nearly fell of the chair with laughing when I read that line.

[hoops1]

Not only could mypost do it. He could then travel back in time to watch the second half of the Rovers match.

[hoopy]

Personally im dreading Friday but living in the hope the team surprises me again and get a result out of the game

To be fair the Rovers/Pats games in Tallaght have been very enjoyable imop. When you have a big away crowd there it adds to the whole thing. Looking forward to what has become a proper derby.

[passerrby]

mypost that tardus is fryingh your brain

[Eminence Grise]

This thread is fast becoming nerd heaven for trainspotters and people who collect bus timetables....

[pineapple stu]

Rather that than a Rovers v Rovers bitchfest.

[mypost]

From the tarmac on the plane to outside the airport in five minutes?!

Precisely. They're going to Dublin for a couple of hours, not coming back off a 2 week family package holiday from Lanzarote.

The Aircoach to Bray takes over an hour and leaves you a good ten minutes' walk from the ground, and that's if you manage to catch the 7pm one. So the best you can do is be about half an hour late for the game. And it costs you E12 or so. Flybus departs at a quarter past the hour, and takes 50 minutes to get to Tallaght. DublinCoach also leaves on the half hour, so you'd have to get the 7:30 one, which leaves you in Red Cow for 7:50. Either way, you're going to miss at least half an hour.

You'll miss 5 minutes as our home games start later than everyone else's. What's 5 minutes missed in 2 hours? Would you prefer to stay at home and miss the game?

Ah, the infamous "Scene missing". And this is to be arranged for free too, it seems.

So for a Sligo fan looking to travel out for the UCD game next month, you're looking at E35 for the flight at the moment, E8 for the Aircoach (which leaves every 15 minutes, would take an hour to get to the flyover and then leave you a 15 minute walk to the ground - so you'd miss the first half-hour), pay in at the gate (E15) and then you're stuck in Dublin with only your mystical "arrange transport back after the game" to rely on. So E58 all told spent - E8 over your budget - and you've only gotten a one-way trip.

Truly you are a complete and utter space cadet of the highest order.

More excuses, together with the traditional parting jibe.

€58 is a hell of a lot cheaper than the €150 earlier quoted. If you want to go, you'll go.

[pineapple stu]

What difference does it make where you've arrived from? You won't get through Dublin Airport in five minutes.

E58 is one-way. You've still to get back, or failing that (which you probably will at that time of night), stay over in a hotel (more cost) and head back the following day (more cost) - you're getting close enough to the E150 quoted.

Not having a lift back can't be dismissed as an "excuse" - it's a major, major factor in going to a game.

You'll miss far more than 5 minutes of a Rovers game given the LUAS doesn't drop you at the gate of the ground, or that the LUAS doesn't arrive immediately, or that there are no other delays en route (whoever heard of a bus being late?)

Seriously, attempting to defend such drivel is probably one of the silliest things you have ever, ever posted.

[poster]

This thread is great. Long live ignorance.

Well for this Friday's game V Bray in Carlisle the Dooley Express will bring us for €20, leaving The Showgrounds at 3.30pm. Very handy if you're not in a 9-5 job or working evenings, which the majority of people who go to Rovers games are.

[mypost]

What difference does it make where you've arrived from? You won't get through Dublin Airport in five minutes.

It makes a big difference. No bags needed to get, no long passport queues. Buses available 2 minutes outside the door.

E58 is one-way. You've still to get back, or failing that (which you probably will at that time of night), stay over in a hotel (more cost) and head back the following day (more cost) - you're getting close enough to the E150 quoted.

Not having a lift back can't be dismissed as an "excuse" - it's a major, major factor in going to a game.

You'll miss far more than 5 minutes of a Rovers game given the LUAS doesn't drop you at the gate of the ground, or that the LUAS doesn't arrive immediately, or that there are no other delays en route (whoever heard of a bus being late?

All excuses.

The ground is within 3-5 minutes walking distance of the Luas and the flybus. The Main Street in Bray is 5 minutes from Bray's ground. Dublin Bus drops you at the other Dublin grounds at the gates.

I accept it's not convenient, I know it's awkward, but you can either gamble to watch games, or sit in front of the PC watching a ticker, complaining about poor crowds.

[pineapple stu]

Explain to me how you're going to get back after the game?

Explain to me how not having a lift back after a game is merely a trifle not to be considered?

Explain to me how the fact that buses are sometimes late isn't an issue?

And you still can't get from the plane to the front of Dublin Airport in five minutes even without waiting for baggage reclaim.

[Mr A]

And explain to me what a federal case is, I'm mixing the barley with the grape again.

[superjohnny]

This thread is great. Long live ignorance.

Well for this Friday's game V Bray in Carlisle the Dooley Express will bring us for €20, leaving The Showgrounds at 3.30pm. Very handy if you're not in a 9-5 job or working evenings, which the majority of people who go to Rovers games are.

I expect to see a big crowd so poster :-)

[horton]

Moaning about travelling times? at least ye's don't have to go to the bureau de change anytime you try to get to an away game

[harleyleeds]

This thread has turned out to be fun reading . To be fair Poster SJ has you there.