Shortfall or no, Leinster final stays at Croke Park

ACCORDING TO Leinster Council the provincial hurling final will not be moved out of Croke Park in future despite poor expectations of next weekend’s meeting of All-Ireland champions Kilkenny and Galway.

Just under 40,000 were present last year when Kilkenny easily beat Dublin, but the previous year’s attendance between this year’s contenders drew 10,000 fewer, 28,369, and according to estimates, the coming weekend’s isn’t expected to top the mid-20,000s.

It has been suggested a ground like O’Connor Park in Tullamore would provide a more atmospheric venue for the match. It would be too late for this year, but Leinster CEO Michael Delaney says that such a move hasn’t even been considered.

“It’s never been mentioned. All counties want to play in Croke Park and although the crowd probably would fit into Tullamore there are only 7,000 covered seats in the ground and people like comfort at matches and you’re guaranteed that in Croke Park, where it’s also possible to offer promotions to families wanting to bring children.”

Meanwhile, Waterford GAA officers are bracing themselves for the possibility of a significant financial loss after two weekend fundraising concerts failed to draw the crowds.

Members of the county executive met last night in the wake of “Rhythmfest” in Dungarvan – held at Fraher Field on Saturday and Sunday.

It was expected that two fundraising promotions – featuring the likes of Bressie, the High Kings and Jedward – would raise money for the cash-strapped county board. Instead the events lost money, with estimates of the loss varying between €25,000 and €50,000. County chair Tom Cunningham said last night it was too early to say how much money has been lost.

“It was a brilliant weekend and we were complimented for the excellent setting at Fraher Field. But we didn’t get bums on seats. Money is scarce – we took a gamble and it didn’t pay off. On this occasion we hoped to run it on a break-even basis and set the trend for future years.”

Cunningham indicated the county board will explore staging annual fundraising concerts as they look to alleviate a debt reported at €210,000 last year.

Elsewhere, Kilkenny have injury problems in advance of the weekend’s Leinster hurling final. Captain Eoin Larkin, Colin Fennelly, JJ Delaney and Paul Murphy are all carrying knocks, according to manager Brian Cody.

“Eoin went over on his ankle and he hasn’t taken a full part in training. He did a small bit of jogging yesterday but we are hopeful that he will be fine. It’s beginning to look as if he will make it.

“Colin Fennelly, JJ Delaney and Paul Murphy all picked up injuries in the semi-final win over Dublin and are on the doubtful list.

“Right now, I couldn’t even begin to say who is ruled in and who is ruled out. It’s for certain that we could be under pressure for some players.”

Hurler of the Year Michael Fennelly is, however, making progress in his recovery from a knee ligament injury and a fractured bone in his foot.

“He’s close. He’s made great progress in the last couple of weeks and there was even some hope he would be available for the last game (against Dublin),” added Cody.

“He’s just not there yet. One thing we are not going to do is bringing him back before we are ready and causing him further injury.”