Celtic support in Ireland

Where are the hotspots and where is it hard to find a pub showing the game. I imagine the biggest places would be Belfast, Derry, Donegal and Dublin and hats of to those who make the massive commitment of travelling to games. i certainly have found it hard to see the games in pubs on holidays in the west of Ireland though. How did you get into Celtic and how popular are they around your patch?

 

Tyrone would be one of the counties with alot of support. Parts of Armagh too. I'm not a big pubgoer for the matches, but the Wolfetone in Letterkenny, Donegal is a decent Celtic/republican bar. As is the waterfront bar in Strabane.

 

Out West the only place I've ever went to watch a match is Monroes in Galway just off Eyre Square, local CSC meet there great crak!

Got into Celtic the season before Seville and not looked back since, not very popular around where I live but not reviled either (unless your a Liverpool fan it seems).

Dublin as a collective though has alot of support.

 

I remember a couple of years ago phoning 12 pubs to see if they were showing a derby game, out of them all only one said they'd be putting the first half on then it would be getting changed to the EPL game, I only live an hour outside Dublin.

I'm a member of a supporters club but they are based about a 20 min drive away but the pub shows all the Celtic games and there is usually a good crowd at them, although I seldom go now as if I'm not at the game I just get a stream on-line.

 

Is it partly the * league factor. If Celtic was in the EPL would Celtic become a lot of Irish folks EPL team instead of Man U etc.

 

Oooft, that is a fantastic question.

I wonder what the genuine answer would be, as I often wonder if the Irish EPL fans are just trophy hunters...normally big 4 supporters.

I doubt Celtic would challenge the big 4 if they got to the EPL, at least for a decade or so.

No offense to any EPL supporting Irish people on here, there's a lot of EPL/SPL support in Ireland - when you have your own League.

 

There may be a league but what about those that don't have a local team? The majority of people don't have a local team so with sky sports etc it's inevitable people would support foreign teams. I support Celtic and Derry City but I wouldn't consider myself a gloryhunter

 

The Red Devil is a decent pub there, its a tim pub, well half and half despite the Man U name lol, Stokes and his da frequent it when in Belfast.

 

I'd hate to say it but I'm not even sure that Celtic is the most popular football club in Donegal. Maybe second to ManU or Liverpool thesedays. :<

 

Anytime I've been to Donegal I've hardly noticed any support for Celtic which was a massive disappointment although Man U & Liverpool seem to be really popular. I do know a lot of Irish Celtic fans though but not sure how popular overall the hoops are compared to EPL teams.

 

Every pub on the falls road show the Celtic games
When there on tv

 

Donegal isn't as good as you might like to think. It's a mixed bag all over, pretty much. The Liverpool and United supporters are never far away.

 

When i moved to the west of ireland 9 years ago i was shocked teh support from here. I was honestly expecting to see pubs everywhere showing games with them packed out with supporters. I found one that showed the games thou we didnt have that many supporters and after every gers game i was always told to sit down and be quiet as the man u supporters where in to watch their game, i was * discusted. Ended up getting barred out of the place , bunch of vannys!

 

Cant argue with that. I remember chatting to a few ajax supporters at bairds just before we played them and they couldnt get their head around how many supporters of us traveled to a different country every week to support our team.

 

I knew that many people from Ireland supported EPL teams, but to be honest, I was sure that Celtic was more popular that any EPL team, especially in the north. Reading this thread, I think I was wrong.

 

In my year in school there is about 210 people and, so just say 105 guys and only 2 of them follow Celtic as their first team, myself and another guy. Most people follow United and Liverpool. A few people would say Celtic is their second team but wouldnt really know much about celtic. Most people couldnt care less about us.

 

A lot of the manure fans in West Belfast are just glory hunters, lost count of the amount of them that I have talked to who, when they find out I support Celtic start the conversation with, I used to go to/support Celtic but I'm utd now

They are indeed a mixed up bunch, especially the ones proclaiming to be hard core Republicans and so anti-British then proclaim their undying love for a british institution and their favourite son, an alcoholic who used to be on the other side of the barricades throwing bricks at them

 

If your talking about George Best your wrong. Best was never political or sectarian, in fact he spoke in favour of an all Ireland soccer team and he even wore the hoops in a friendly.