The Sporting Palace.
Though universally regarded as a priceless Victorian jewel, the Palace Bar has an umbilical-like relationship with Irish sport. But on close inspection, you would be forgiven for thinking this is primarily a touristy cultural pub with little or no sporting dimension. You see, there are no large screens here; Sky Sports does not blaze into your consciousness hour after hour with its subliminal line of text running along the bottom of screen. In truth, there is no Sky coverage here. All that exists here is a regular size family TV that’s encased within a mahogany press, a departure that’s totally in keeping with the ethos of the Victorian pub. And on very special occasions, this Aladdin’s press is opened to relay historic moments in Irish sport.
Unique for a pub that forms the gateway to the Temple Bar, the Palace Bar has a very regular and committed patronage, especially of the sporting kind. Regulars know the Palace to be a forum for good conversationalists of all ages. And that motto is firmly embedded behind the bar from the mouth of the great sage himself, Con Houlihan, Ireland’s greatest ever sports writer: ‘A bird is known by his song; a man by his conversation.’
And the sporting conversations here are many and varied. On a given day, you can be transported to Cheltenham, Royal Ascot or glorious Galway as the racing aficionados flit in and out between the counter and Paddy Powers. But in many respects, the Palace Bar has always been the home-from-home of Munster rugby in Dublin. The Munster faithful flock here like pilgrims to Mecca when the boys are playing in town.
The tradition of great sporting journalists imbibing here continues to the present day. Roy Curtis, Ireland’s Sports Journalist of the Year, is one of the many that epitomise the spirit of a Palace regular. Passionate, articulate and generous in the moment, Roy invariably finds the time to exchange sporting tales with the Palace’s soccer and sporting faithful.
Undoubtedly, the oldest sporting connection with the Palace Bar is that of the ancient game, and the hurlers of Tipperary. On occasions of victory dating back to 1949, when Bill Aherne was pulling the pints, the Tipperary team have taken the Liam McCarthy to the Palace Bar on the Monday after the game. However, wonderful conflict of interest moments are experienced here on All-Ireland Football day when Kerry and Dublin are playing. You see this is a renowned Kerry watering hole but it is also a very special place for the Dubs. On such occasions the entertainment value is of theatre standard as the banter, the jibes and the slagging flow as smoothly as the creamy pints of Guinness behind the bar. If truth be told, sport is always the winner in the Palace Bar.