Last Sunday, Bobby O’Brien came off the bench for Ratoath and scored 1-2 in their Senior Football Championship quarter final win over Dunshaughlin.
This week, he has been talking about cranes.
It might sound like a fairly significant change of pace, but for O’Brien the two are rather closely connected.
The 33-year-old is still very much part of the Ratoath senior football team, while his family business is playing its own part in the redevelopment of the stand in Páirc Tailteann.
Gabriel O’Brien Crane Hire, based in Ratoath, has been involved since the early stages of the project. The company provided a crane directly to Sisk for the foundation works and is now involved in lifting the huge precast sections that are forming the new stand.
“I actually wish I was driving the crane myself on the job so I could get a look at how it’s coming along. Even though I’m not on site myself it’s still deadly that the company are involved in the project,” admits Bobby.
There is a good reason he is so interested in how things are progressing.
Páirc Tailteann has been part of his life for as long as he can remember.
He, his brothers and his sister all played there for Ratoath, while the family playing connection goes back even further through Rathbeggan NS. Bobby and his sister also played in a Cumann na mBunscol final there on the same day.
“As a family we have been going to Páirc Tailteann our whole lives, so to play a small part in the redevelopment is deadly.”
Bobby has certainly played his own part in the place.
He has represented Meath at minor, Under 21, junior and senior level, while his club career has included both football and hurling.
He helped Ratoath win the Junior Football Championship in 2012 before going on to win the Intermediate Football Championship in 2015 and the provincial title that same year. He was also named Meath GAA Intermediate Footballer of the Year as the club secured its place in the senior ranks.
He later added an Intermediate Hurling Championship in 2016 before winning the Meath Senior Football Championship with Ratoath in 2022.
And he is still adding to the story.
Just last Sunday, he came off the bench against Dunshaughlin in the Senior Football Championship quarter final and contributed 1-2 as Kevin Daly’s charges booked their place in the penultimate round against Donaghmore/Ashbourne.
Some of Bobby’s Páirc Tailteann memories go back well before his senior career.
“I was there when Graham Geraghty scored that famous goal against Louth; that was amazing.”
He was also part of the Meath minor side that defeated Louth in a Leinster semi final in 2011 and played Under 21 games under the lights before the old floodlights were removed.
“I always used to love training with Meath in Páirc Tailteann because it’s such a class pitch. It’s hands down the best pitch I ever played on. I played in Croke Park twice and it doesn’t even come close to Navan.”
10 July 2011; Meath’s Bobby O’Brien shows his disappointment after the match. Leinster GAA Football Minor Championship Final, Dublin v Meath, Croke Park, Dublin. Picture credit: Brian Lawless/SPORTSFILE
Bobby’s memories of Páirc Tailteann are not all big games and big moments. Some of them are memorable for rather different reasons.
“What was there was shocking really, to be honest. The dressing rooms were particularly shocking!”
In recent times there was astro turf on the ground as players came out of the dressing rooms, but it was not always there. Bobby remembers one particular occasion before a hurling final when the old concrete floor proved to be a particularly dangerous opponent.
“I fell coming out on to the pitch before a hurling final one time and busted myself; the concrete floor inside was lethal. It was worn, which made it worse and then you’d have studs on and it was like an ice rink! The showers were deplorable as well!”
He remembers travelling to Newry with Meath and being struck by the difference.
“I remember going to Newry, we played a game up there and I couldn’t get over how class Páirc Esler was compared to what we had! I was injured and up in the stand and I just couldn’t believe how nice it was,” he remarked.
Now, Bobby is getting to see what comes next.
The construction work has moved well beyond the foundations, with the focus now firmly on the new stand.
“Obviously now they have moved on to the bigger stuff, like the stand; the columns, the stairs, trusses and the terrace itself where the seats will go. Banagher Concrete are providing the pre-cast and we are lifting it and ICMS are placing them and levelling them. Our role is to provide the crane, lift the pre-cast off the lorry and they will put them into place,” explains Bobby.
The crane on site is a crawler crane, with tracks like a digger. Alongside the crane driver is a banksman, who Bobby describes as the “eyes and ears below”.
Gabriel O’Brien Crane Hire on site at Páirc Tailteann. Photo: Paula Greif 2026/www.sportsaction.ie
It is a type of work the family business knows well.
Gabriel O’Brien Crane Hire has previously worked on major stadium projects including St Conleth’s Park in Newbridge, Páirc Uí Chaoimh and the Connacht Rugby stadium (Dexcom Stadium), all with Banagher Concrete and ICMS.
“Precast is just a matter of getting in and out; it’s like a jigsaw puzzle and it’s a brilliant job and so quick,” he added.
There will likely be more work for the cranes as the Páirc Tailteann project progresses, although the precise requirements will be determined as the construction moves through its next stages.
“Sisk will direct what else we will have to do on site but I suspect we may be involved in lifting on the roof and steel for it, seats maybe but generally I think from here on in our work will involve smaller things. There may need to be things offloaded with a crane for the comms/media room, boiler room and stuff like that. I’m no expert but I reckon the bulk of this job is the stand and the underground services for it and the rest of it will be stuff like electrical and mechanical fit outs, which we wouldn’t be needed for.”
But behind the cranes, the precast and the steel is a much more personal connection to the project.
Gabriel O’Brien set up the company in the 1980s after moving from Leitrim to Dublin in 1973. He met Bobby’s mam, Monica, in Dublin, and eventually the family found its way to Ratoath through a chance conversation with a local man called Michael McIntyre.
Michael, who has since passed away, was working on the same site as Gabriel and mentioned that there was a site for sale nearby.
Gabriel went to have a look.
“It was an old Land Commission house and he got on to the auctioneer straight away and bought it. As I said, Dad’s from Leitrim originally and my mother is from Westmeath and neither of them had ever even heard of Ratoath! So that’s how we ended up here.”
All these years later, Ratoath is very much home for the O’Brien family.
Gabriel is still working and still driving cranes, while Bobby works alongside him, his brothers Conor and Darragh and his younger sister Aisling, who works in HR. Conor runs the company with Gabriel.
The business now employs roughly 100 people, although that number fluctuates depending on the work available.
At Páirc Tailteann, that local connection matters to Bobby.
“I think it is important that local businesses are involved in projects like Páirc Tailteann. As contractors we care about the project.”
And perhaps nobody involved in the work can quite appreciate the transformation in the same way as someone who has spent so much of his life playing and supporting teams there.
For Bobby, the excitement about what is coming is straightforward.
“I just can’t wait until we have a top class stand that we can be proud of. We have never had that, ever, in Meath. Not in my lifetime anyway.”
There is also one particularly important improvement he is looking forward to.
“I can’t wait to watch a game without having my view blocked by some post or other!”
And then there are the lights.
“I can’t wait for night games to be back again too; Páirc Tailteann was class under lights.”
For now, Bobby remains on both sides of the Páirc Tailteann story.
At the weekends, he is still pulling on the Ratoath jersey and adding to his own playing memories.
During the week, his family’s cranes are helping to put the new stand together.
It is a slightly unusual way to experience a redevelopment, but for someone whose life has been so intertwined with Meath GAA and Páirc Tailteann, there is something rather fitting about helping to build the place where the next generation will make their own memories.
By Meath GAA Thu 24th Sep
