Croke Park pitch failings ‘will be tackled’

GAA PRESIDENT Nickey Brennan has promised that the problems affecting the Croke Park pitch will be resolved as quickly as possible.

While accepting that it wasn’t satisfactory for players to be slipping on the surface, he pointed out that a combination of factors — including players using incorrect footwear — was responsible for incidents at the weekend.

Speaking from Edmonton in Canada, where he is supporting the Irish team in the World Handball Championships, Brennan also noted the impact of extraordinarily ‘dry’ weather.

Said Brennan: “Very simply, we haven’t been getting enough rain. You can do all the watering you want on a daily basis, but there is nothing like the natural rain falling on the ground and seeping through.

“The dry weather has affected the growth of the grass. I am no expert, but we didn’t have this problem earlier in the summer. Around the time of the Leinster final the weather was ‘broken’ and enough rain fell to keep the pitch in condition.”

He also referred to the high number of games that have played in Croke Park recently — five alone at the weekend — and highlighted the problems of “compaction” caused by big supporters coming on to the playing surface.

Mr Brennan continued: “We have the pitch we have. But, it’s not as if we have a field that nobody knows anything about. It’s the only one in Ireland, but you will find the same surface on a number of soccer grounds in England.

“Naturally, at the end of the day we would prefer that these things were not happening. Just now I am concerned that we get it back in order, but people have to understand the difficulties that are there.’’

Interestingly, Kilkenny hurler Eoin Larkin agreed that there hadn’t been a problem with the surface on the day of the Leinster final against Wexford.

“It wasn’t that bad,” he said. “There was a bit of rain before the game and it softened up the pitch You were able to ‘dig in a bit.’ But, it seemed to get worse on Saturday and Sunday.

“We’ll just have to see in the warm-up what (boot) suits and what doesn’t suit. It’s different if you have to be wary about your footing all the time, especially in the backs. If you make a mistake and you slip, it could cost you the match.”