There's not much room. A few more could have squeezed in at the scoreboard end, but the view mightn't have been great. Officially, there were 15,213 people in the ground; unofficially, there might have been one or two more.
earse Park looked fantastic. It had never looked better in fact. It had never been so full. For those who could remember the dank, grey 'stadium' of the 1970s and '80s, it was hard to believe this was even the same place. It was bright and colourful. Modern even. It helped that the sun was shining. And that the Dubs were in town.
Longford town was buzzing all day. It was the June Bank Holiday weekend, temperatures were in the 20s and the travelling army of Dublin fans were in playful mood, enjoying the novelty of it all. Writing in the Irish Independent the next day, Hugh Farrelly observed that the town was "a heaving, singing mass of anticipation" in the hours before throw-in. The memorable headline on his piece told its own story, 'Crouching Cider, Hidden Flagon'.
Back then, Dublin were reigning Leinster champions and although they had not won an All-Ireland in 11 years, many reckoned they were getting closer. There was still a buzz around the team, wherever it went, which in fairness was rarely very far as their matches tended to be in Croke Park.
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The then Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, joined the thousands of fans on the 2km walk from Longford town centre, over the Camlin river, up the Battery Road, to Pearse Park. Most headed for the terraces, Bertie went to the new VIP area at the Camp Road end.
Longford had been pulled out first when the provincial draw was made the previous October and stuck to their guns on the question of venue. A 19-point trimming by the Dubs in Croke Park in May 2005 was still fresh in the memory. It had sharpened minds - and resolve - and Longford campaigned hard to have the game played in Pearse Park.
Dublin argued that the ground was too small and too many fans would miss out. Financially, Leinster Council would lose out too, but in the end backed Longford's right to host the match.
As Longford subsequently proved, the truth was not that the GAA couldn't afford to take Dublin out of Croke Park, but that it couldn't be without game like this. Brendan Moran's picture makes that point emphatically. How we would love to see scenes like that this summer.
After securing home 'advantage', Longford County Board committed to increasing the ground's capacity by nearly 50 per cent. The terrace on the east-side of the ground was more than doubled in size to accommodate almost 9,000 supporters, extra seating was installed on the stand side and, at the scoreboard end, permission was given to allow people to stand as a once-off.
"It was a massive undertaking to raise the attendance from just over 10,000 to nearly 16,000 in such a short space of time, but we did it," says Martin Skelly, then county board chairman. The country was still on the crest of an economic wave at the time and all the ground improvements were paid for by sponsorship and fundraising. There was no need to go to the bank.
Longford is a small county, but the whole of its GAA family got behind the project, as Skelly recalls. Which is hardly surprising. Because, above all else, Pearse Park stands as a monument to the vision, determination and resourcefulness of those who went before, especially those who decided in the early 1930s that this small county needed its own GAA home. In a wonderful irony of the time, a former cavalry barracks and military training ground was chosen as that home.
"We had a few tools, our two hands, a couple of wheelbarrows, and Gaffney's jennet and cart to draw away the stones," Paddy Hourican recalled many years later about the days of hard labour in the construction of Pearse Park, which finally opened in 1937. What we saw, then, that June day in 2006 was the latest step in the evolution of an idea hatched all those years ago, built and rebuilt over the decades.
The game itself was as memorable as the occasion, the only day in my lifetime that a Longford team not only could have beaten Dublin in the Leinster Championship, but should have beaten them.
Longford led by 0-5 to 0-1 after 13 minutes, and outscored Dublin by 0-5 to 0-1 in the last 10 minutes. In between, they gave as good as they got - except on the scoreboard - and paid the price for too many wides when they had their visitors on the ropes. Goals have always been like oxygen to Dublin teams and Mark Vaughan scored a priceless one late in the first half. "I'd give the county great credit for the performance and for the great environment here today," said manager Paul Caffrey afterwards.
Dublin were rattled on the road, for sure, but once safely back in Croke Park they cruised to another Leinster title and eventually lost to Mayo in the All-Ireland semi-final. They did not play another game in the Leinster Championship outside Croke Park until June 4, 2016 - exactly 10 years to the day from their trip to Longford.
On the morning of the game, Skelly and a few others joined the home squad for Mass in St Mel's College. His mind kept wandering up the Battery Road. He couldn't wait to get to Pearse Park. He couldn't wait for the day ahead. They had been there until darkness fell on Friday night, finishing up the last bits, sweeping down the steps in the stand one last time.
"The real feeling I had was that there was something in our lads that would make it even more special. I knew there was a performance in the team. I knew it in the months beforehand . . .
"There was a kick of a ball in it. They nearly did it."
Who: Longford v Dublin
When: June 4, 2006
Where: Pearse Park, Longford
Photographer: Brendan Moran
