It’s a testament to the unpredictability of the inter-county hurling season that trains, of all things, became one of the talking points of All-Ireland semi-final weekend.
Cork’s second-half collapse) against Galway last Saturday almost served as the undercard for another scrap on RTÉ when Dónal Óg Cusack took umbrage at Joe Canning’s suggestion that the Rebels were victims of their own supporters’ expectations.
With the Cork-Dublin trains booked out weeks in advance of the final, Canning suggested that level of hype could “seep into the mentality” of the players.
“You know that’s bull, Joe, about trains,” a testy Cusack said. “How many All-Ireland medals did you win yourself?”
Into the shemozzle stepped the Iarnród Éireann X account. Replying to a jokey tweet about Cork-Dublin services on All-Ireland final day, Irish Rail said that while bookings are restricted until both finalists are confirmed, there will be availability from Cork “and plenty of it”.
Amusing? Certainly. But while it’s tough to feel much sympathy for any fate-tempting Cork fan cocky enough to book their train in haste, regular passengers might be wondering whether Irish Rail has the brand equity to adopt this sort of tone.
Its customers have become, well, accustomed to all manner of delays on various services in recent times. There is also the small matter of a €50 million traffic management system write-off.
The 9 per cent VAT rate has been welcomed by restaurants but does the hospitality sector actually need it?
Some fear the failure to upgrade the IT system is going to make more large-scale signal faults like the one that occurred in late May – causing widespread disruption on Dart and commuter lines – inevitable.
It goes without saying that Irish Rail isn’t the first brand to take the mickey on social media. DAA is an obvious example of an organisation that has made hay with that sort of communications strategy.
The crucial difference, however, is that the Dublin Airport operator has largely succeeded in ironing out its own kinks in staffing, security queues and a range of other issues that have affected passengers in recent times.
Unpredictability is a big selling point for inter-county hurling. It’s less appealing in a rail service.
