Excitement fever pitch but crowds bypass road to Croker

PUBS are expected to do a roaring trade for tomorrow’s All-Ireland senior football semi-final between arch-rivals Cork and Kerry, as fans stay away from Croke Park.

The tills may be ringing in bars, but the county’s finest stadium is expected to host only 25,000 fans from both counties.

Cork County Board chairman Mick Dolan has urged more Rebel supporters to make the trip.

And he had a message for fans from The Kingdom — go tomorrow because you won’t see Dublin again this year.

“I think Cork can win this game. The team are a great bunch of lads and it’s a pity they don’t get the same support as the hurlers,” Mick said.

He added that GAA headquarters might have got a much larger crowd if the game was played in Thurles or Limerick.

Kerry legend Pat Spillane agreed that his fellow countymen suffered from “final syndrome”.

“They’ve been spoilt over the years and haven’t travelled to semi-finals. This team is on the cusp of greatness and should be getting great backing,” he said.

He added that the cost of repeated travel to championship games was also a factor keeping many families away.

“Back in the 1970s Iarnród Éireann was capable of transporting 20,000 Kerry supporters to Dublin. Now it can’t take half that. The roads out of Cork are very good, but some of the ones out of Kerry are still Third World,” Spillane added.

Paddy Power stands to lose heavily if the men from The Kingdom overcome their neighbours.

The bookmaker is quoting Kerry as 2/5 with Cork 11/4 and 8/1 the draw. They also quote four Kerrymen as being most-likely to score the first goal. Their talisman full-forward Kieran Donaghy is 6/1 favourite, Colm “Gooch” Cooper is at 7/1, Declan O’Sullivan 10/1 and Tom Walsh 11/1. “We have seen a lot more money than usual going on Kerry. We’ve taken on a couple of bets of €10,000 on them,” a Paddy Power spokesman said.