New Croker sod well up to holding four games

THE GAA has absolutely no worries about the new pitch in Croke Park taking all four quarter-finals of the Bank of Ireland football championship this weekend even if it rains.

Two games each will be played on Sunday and Monday, with the pairings designed to maximise the attendance both days. Once the Games Administration Committee was obliged to fix Armagh's game with Sligo for Sunday becausehere is no bank holiday on Monday in Northern Ireland it was just a question of which of the two big games would be paired with it. The GAC opted for the 2000 All-Ireland repeat of Galway and Kerry, with Cork and Mayo meeting ahead of Dublin and Donegal on Monday.

Both fixtures have the capacity to attract 60,000 but the belief is that the attendance will not approach the record 78,000 figure which was reached on the occasion of the Leinster final between Dublin and Kildare.

The likelihood is that, because of travel considerations for followers of the other three counties, Dublin supporters will form the bulk of the crowd on Monday.

As predicted, no serious consideration was given to playing any of the games in Croke Park on Saturday. This decision was taken to avoid inconveniencing local residents, apart from the probable traffic disruption in the city and the main approach roads.

The Association's PRO Danny Lynch pointed out yesterday that careful management of the new playing surface in the course of its cultivation had created a situation where they could proceed with the "double, double fixture" without having any reservations about the impact on the pitch.

"We had three (hurling) games there on Sunday and to look at the surface yesterday morning you would not think so. It was like a billiard table. There was hardly a divot taken out of it," he said.

Additionally, the Galway footballers held a training session on the pitch on Sunday evening.

"We got the pitch to where it is today through following expert advice. And, what people may not be aware of is that we control its climatic condition. First of all, there's the alchemy of three particular types of compounds, intermeshed with a heating and ventilation system. Additionally, there is a water-sprinkler system to complement all of that."

He pointed out that the old pitch consistently accommodated double bills. If the surface needed to be softened, water was pumped in from the nearby canal.

In the event of bad weather over the weekend, the ground's motorised drainage system can to remove six inches of rain from the surface in an hour.