Dublin 3 home on the road to Croke Park is a GAA fan’s dream

Asking price: €475,000

Agent: Kelly Bradshaw Dalton (01) 8040500

There are two Drumcondra residents who absolutely love the buzz of match days.

When Eunan and Elaine McCosker were house-hunting in Dublin, Croke Park was like a beacon for them, as they have spent their lives travelling from Kerry and Donegal to support their home counties.

With the stadium now on their doorstep, they love nothing more than when family and friends arrive to join them on the short walk to victory or defeat.

Number 85 Tolka Park is a few roads away from the GAA headquarters. The surrounding streets are thronged with fans on match days but instead of being put off by the crowds, the McCoskers were drawn to them.

“We are both really into it,” says Eunan, “but Elaine and her family, being from Kerry, get more days out in Croke Park than I do.

“They all come up here before the game and then we’ll meet up again back here after.

Although they love the atmosphere as they leave the match, they also enjoy the feeling of the crowd disappearing as they get close to home.

“Our road is closed off on match days but we can come and go if we want. Nobody can come up and park without a resident’s pass.

“We go to loads of matches and gigs, and when you leave Croke Park, there are about 80,000 people on Clonliffe Road, but when you turn up Tolka Road, there’s nobody,” says Eunan.

The McCoskers bought No85 in 2017. Although it was in good condition, they never stopped upgrading and decorating where they could.

“A lot of the bigger jobs were done before we bought it,” says Eunan. “It had been rewired and replumbed and a new boiler had been fitted. But it was a bit of a bare shell so we put the final touches on it over the years.

“We’ve done up each room one by one and put down all new carpets and skirting boards, and architraves on all the doors and frames.”

The first job they did was to install a stove from Elm Fireplaces in Limerick in the living room.

When they were looking at the stoves, they also saw quartz worktops that they really liked so ended up upstyling the kitchen too.

The couple works well as a team, as Elaine comes up with the ideas and Eunan, who is a painter, puts them into practice.

With a floor area of 825 sq ft, the house has been designed to make the most of the available space. To the left of the hallway is one open-plan room that houses the kitchen, dining area and living room.

To the right is the study that Eunan and Elaine created. Elaine is an avid reader so this is her little escape with a chair pulled up beside the bookcase.

Eunan put up panelling and painted it in a calming Rich Teal from Dulux. When Covid hit, this room then doubled up as an office so gets plenty of use.

Upstairs there are three bedrooms and a bathroom. The south-west-facing back garden is a bonus in a house so close to the city centre, so the couple was determined to make the most of it, especially as it also acts as a secondary venue for gigs in Croke Park.

“When we bought, it was full of these decorative pebbles so we took out two skipfuls of those stones, all through the house.

“We paved it up and built the planters and put down the artificial grass. It was just before Covid so it was handy, as we have friends who live nearby, so we could all sit out in our garden and have a few drinks,” Eunan says.

“Now, we often have friends up here for gigs. We went to Garth Brooks one night and the other nights we listened in the back garden.

“You can hear everything when it’s on but then it goes completely quiet because we’re not a through-road.”

There is an outdoor utility or laundry room at the back of the house and a shed for storage. To the front there is parking for two cars, which is a rarity on these roads.

The house comes to the market in great condition, as the outside and inside were recently repainted by Eunan.

The herringbone floors in the living room were also only laid last year, as were carpets throughout the house.

“There are quite a lot of older-generation people, who are here for years, and they are really nice and welcoming,” Eunan says.

“There are also a few other younger couples on the road that are renovating. There are no rental homes at all really so it’s a really close community.”

Elaine, Eunan, their son Finn and their dog Millie are now keen to move to a bigger house that needs some work so they can get stuck into a new project and create a new home for themselves.

They are keen to stay in Drumcondra and also close to Finn’s creche, which is currently 100m from their house.

“The big thing for us in this area is no matter what you want to do, it’s only 10 minutes away in one direction.

“Elaine walks to work on Merrion Square and, as a painter, I’ve jobs spread out all over the city, so it’s handy for me too,” says Eunan.

“Weekends are great because we have so many parks, restaurants, cafes and takeaways on our doorstep.

“We always go out for breakfast or lunch in the city at the weekend. We just walk in and leave the car behind.”

For anyone who loves the idea of listening out for the roar of the crowd from Croke Park on those summer match days, No85 Tolka Road is for sale for €475,000 through Kelly Bradshaw Dalton.