Dissapointed Meath fans left stranded due to limited public transport

The disappointment of seeing Meath lose two Leinster Finals last Sunday was further compounded for thousands of Meath supporters who faced hours long waits to get out of the city.

While traffic was at a standstill in the immediate aftermath of the game, hundreds of fans, many young children and teens, were left waiting in Phibsboro and Drumcondra for hours on Bus Eireann services to get them back to Navan, Trim and Kells.

There were numerous reports of parents driving to Dublin on Sunday evening to collect stranded fans.

Eva Donnelly from Batterstown said she attended the game with nine adults and nine young children aged seven down to 16 months and they didn’t make it home until after 10pm on Sunday night.

“All the kids were great and powered on but we honestly didn’t expect it to take that long to get home.

“Myself and my cousin were saying it was like we had a hangover with the exhaustion and not a drop was consumed!

“We all thought more trains would be accessible for the trip home seeing how it was such a big event.

“Great memory for us all but would definitely hesitate going again with the lack of trains unfortunately.”

Commenting on the Meath Chronicle facebook page one woman said: “Disaster getting the train from M3 Parkway up to Drumcondra. We were packed on it like sardines on a very warm day. Extremely uncomfortable.

“Could Irish Rail not have ran extra carriages or extra services given the amount of fans travelling?”

The situation was just as bad if not worse for bus users with one frustrated passenger posting: “All buses full, ended up walking to terminus in town to be told next buses due 10.45pm... eventually got bus to Kells, had to be collected from there, so got home 12.15am. Disaster.”

Another travelling fan said: “It was ridiculous we stood at a bus stop for over three hours with no bus, they were all full, in the end we had to get someone yo drive into Dublin for us. The bus system was a joke.

“Shocking delays, was there no traffic management in place, why was there no gardai on point duty?

Bus Eireann and Irish Rail have been contacted for comment.