Everyone has a story from Coppers. The Dublin nightclub is one of the longest running nightclubs in the country and after and All-Ireland it's the place a lot of GAA fans want to head to.
The players are privy to a night out in Coppers as well. Many winning teams have gone to the venue to celebrate their triumph. Nights like that help teams come together and one could say Coppers played a role for Clare during their last triumph in 2013.
Speaking on RTÉ's 'Up For The Match' ahead of the All-Ireland hurling final between Clare and Cork, 2013 All-Ireland winning manager Davy Fitzgerald spoke about how he and his management team decided to let his team head on a big night out to Coppers even though they had the replay in just a matter of weeks.
The initial feeling afterwards was and my worry was that would we perform on the big day and in fairness I thought they were incredible and handled themselves unreal.
The thing was afterwards was to have a banquet an to go out and let them off and they certainly did that, they enjoyed themselves. There were different taxis pulling up at different times.
I think they needed that and in fairness there had been that trust and it's funny over the next few weeks I think we didn't even train too hard over the next three weeks because i felt they were in a good place that day and they delivered I couldn't say a word bad about them.
Certainly when they go to enjoy themselves, they go and enjoy themselves.
There's something to be said for building camaraderie in a squad, especially when big occasions are ahead.
Podge Collins was also on hand to talk about the night and how he felt it was beneficial for the squad to let some steam off especially after some disappointment in not winning first time around.
We we couldn't say we were All-Ireland winners, maybe All-Ireland drawers.
Listen, it was great fun getting out with all the lads, that kind of bonding session because there's a serious lull after because we led for most of the game and it was taken away in a blink of an eye with Hoggy with a magic point.
You think that's it, you've lost your chance and you have to go again next year and thankfully we got another chance.
But there's a real lull in the dressing room after a game so for the management i suppose, they just said "look, we need these lads to have a bit of a night together" and it helped us, it picked us up big time and then the next morning around breakfast there's stories and craic, the banter starts again and you get going again and you refocus the mind and think about the next day.
Davy Fitzgerald, Anthony Nash and Podge Collins reminisce on the 2013 All-Ireland final, letting the players head for Coppers after the drawn game and the decision to throw in Shane O'Donnell for the replay #GAA pic.twitter.com/H6pk06BnuJ
— RTÉ GAA (@RTEgaa) July 20, 2024
Of course Clare would go on to win the replay off the back of a hat-trick from Shane O'Donnell to beat Cork and win their first All-Ireland in 16 years.
They can bring the Liam McCarthy trophy back to the Banner County on Sunday as they face Cork again for a chance to win just their 5th All-Ireland hurling title.
