PLAYING THE LONG GAME

Limerick club's world record 60-hour GAA match remembered in RTÉ doc

- David COUGHLAN

It was a mammoth task and there were a number of rules set out by the Guinness Book of Records.

The players could take a five minute break every hour, but the same 14 players had to be the pitch for the duration of the game with no substitutes allowed.

Official GAA rules had to be applied and the game had to be continuously monitored with every score recorded.

And most crucially, they were allowed to lose only one player over the entire weekend. If more than one player couldn't continue, the record attempt would have to be abandoned.

It began on Friday, May 23, 1986 at 6am.

“It was just breaking for day when we got over there, but it was fine, ideal for football at five, six o'clock in the morning” says Terry in the doc.

“The atmosphere was electric, the amount of people have turned up at half five”

They were playing on a full-sized GAA pitch and the action was at full tilt until the local doctor told the players to calm it all down a bit. There was a hell of a long way to go.

Dolores Dunne was there to support her husband John and the other players.

“We didn't know what we were going to be witnessing, but we were going to be there,” says Dolores.

“There was joy and everybody wanted to be a part of it. It was like a carnival atmosphere.”