From Toronto traffic to Croke Park: Donegal fan scores final ticket thanks to cop's banter

Extra.ie​

a day ago

A spot of banter on the streets of Toronto has turned into a precious All-Ireland Final ticket for one lucky Donegal woman.
Clare O'Brien will be at today's game with her new friend Conor Holly – a Canadian policeman with Irish parents – thanks to a series of fortunate events that began unfolding on the day of Donegal's semi-final victory over Meath two weeks ago.
Ms O'Brien was sitting in traffic in Toronto, where she has lived for around three-and-a-half years, along with her visiting mother and stepfather.
She told Extra.ie: 'We'd been away for the weekend and were coming back through the city.
'I still had my Donegal jersey on and the window down, and a cop cycled past and shouted 'Up Kerry!' at me, in through the window. @connie.mc.granaghan #donegalgaa #donegal #toronto #canadalife #torontolifestyle ♬ original sound – connie.mc.granaghan☘️
'My mum is going through a little bit of a TikTok phase, so she happened to be recording at that time, caught it on camera, and was like, 'Oh my God, this is hilarious. I have to post it.'' The clip went 'a bit viral', attracting 'about 200,000 views'.
The video eventually got back to the cheeky policeman, Mr Holly, who then got in touch with Ms O'Brien's mother Connie directly.
Born and raised in Toronto, Mr Holly's father is from Kerry and his mother is from Belfast.
'He asked us if we wanted a tour of the police station that he works in,' Ms O'Brien said. 'So Mum, of course, said yes, and added, 'Clare will wear her Donegal jersey and you can wear your Kerry jersey.' They took us around the whole station. It was lovely.' Pic: Supplied
The new friends kept in touch through social media and planned to watch today's decider together in a Toronto bar. But Mr Holly got in contact on Wednesday to say that his father had secured a few tickets for the match, if she'd like to have one.
Ms O'Brien said: 'I was actually at work drinks, and I was like, 'I might need this evening to think about that,' – last-minute flights back are obviously really expensive.
'But I let my family know, and they were like, 'Oh my God, you have to come. This is such an opportunity.'' Ms O'Brien, who is programme manager for a digital mental health company, accepted the ticket the next day and flew overnight last night, due to land at 11.30am today.
Mr Holly flew into Ireland on Friday. 'His dad is coming too,' Ms O'Brien said. 'He said it's been his dad's dream to see Kerry in Croke Park.'
The new friends are planning to meet up before the game, if all their travel arrangements go smoothly. Croke Park. Pic: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
'I'm meeting my uncle in Drumcondra to leave my suitcase and stuff, and that's actually where an uncle of [Mr Holly's] lives, so he'll be in that area as well,' Ms O'Brien said.
'We will definitely meet up beforehand, and probably afterwards. It depends on how the match goes.'
She described the kind-hearted policeman as 'a really nice guy' who was 'very easy to chat to'.
'He has that kind of Irish, chatty way about him, even though he's Canadian.'
While the serendipitous meeting and ensuing friendship could be the set-up for a rom-com, Ms O'Brien laughed that her girlfriend 'might not be too impressed with that'.
She plans to stay in Ireland for a week, and will be heading straight home to Letterkenny after today's game.