Garth still has friends in unlikely places

He was the man who drew 400,000 people together but has driven next-door neighbours apart.

And if that sounds like a mawkish theme straight from a country and western songbook, then there’d be no better man to sing it than Garth Brooks.

The neighbourhood around Croke Park was divided after the decision by Dublin City Council to reduce the star’s five-day concert run to three days threw doubts over the entire venture.