GAA followers could feel that bit sentimental walking along Jones's Road these days, as the Hogan Stand slowly but surely begins to fall.
Phase three in the GAA's complete restructuring of its Croke Park headquarters saw the demolition men move into the old stand the day after the women's football final in early October. And a little over a month later all the seats are gone, half the lower deck is already taken out and the entire front section of the roof has been removed.
Before the framework which supported the roof can be dismantled, the remaining two-thirds of the sheets at the back end must be taken off. It's a slow, meticulous process and not just a question of bringing in the wrecking ball. Because of the presence of asbestos in parts of the roof, each section has to be removed sheet by sheet and then carefully carried away, under the close monitoring of Dublin corporaration.
It will be the end of January before the demolition is complete and all the rubble is cleared. The construction workers then move in and it is hoped to have some seats in the new lower deck ready for the Leinster final next summer.
"It's an extraordinary tricky process to totally reconstruct a stadium while still playing games in it," says the GAA's Danny Lynch. "From our previous showings we expect to have part of the new structure complete next summer, but of course that is subject to Murphy's Law."
The entire structure will take another two years to finish, so it will be the 2002 championship before the replacement for the Hogan Stand will be fully functional. As with the structures which have replaced the Cusack Stand and Canal End, it will feature a number of premium-level seats and corporate suites. "What you'll have then is one of the finest stadiums in the world," Lynch noted.
At the moment, though, it's a contrasting scene with one stand standing proudly at one side of field and across from it another resembling a bombed-out wreck.
It is hoped that all levels of the replacement for the Canal End will be ready in time for the Leinster final next summer. The three completed stands would bring Croke Park's capacity to 84,000.
