Final timing under fire

MUNSTER COUNCIL chiefs wanted to play their provincial senior hurling final replay between Cork and Waterford on Sunday afternoon but a request to do so was rejected by Croke Park.

The game, played on Saturday evening in Semple Stadium, attracted 22,763 fans — one of the poorest attendances in recent times for the glamour fixture.

Munster Council PRO Jim Forbes last night expressed disappointment over the timing of the tie.

Forbes said: “Our preferred choice was 3.30pm on the Sunday afternoon, and that wasn’t allowed.

“The Munster senior hurling final is one of the premier dates on the GAA calendar and I don’t think it should be kicked out to a Saturday evening billing.

“There was something unreal about coming home from Thurles at midnight on a Saturday night after a Munster final. It doesn’t make sense.

“There are other provincial finals on Sunday, I know that (the Ulster and Connacht football finals), but we’d have been very disappointed over that.

“The Munster Council are the ones who organise this game, I think they should be the ones who pick the most suitable date, and not have to put the biggest game of the hurling year outside of the All-Ireland final into a Saturday evening billing. It deserves better than that.”

And he admitted the attendance suffered as a result of the timing.

“Initially we were expecting more, but when we saw the way ticket sales were going during the week we thought it would be a maximum of 20,000. We had no curtain-raiser, unfortunately, that’s something that would have got the crowds in earlier, and in this situation then people tend to come later.”

The game was also delayed by ten minutes to facilitate ticket sales after huge lines of Waterford and Cork supporters formed outside the ground.

“It was a joint decision between the Munster Council and the gardaí (to delay the game) as there were huge queues at the ticket booths. All stiles were opened but it was an all-ticket game — that’s the norm now when you have an expected crowd above a certain number.

“You had matches on television as well, and of course it was a working day for a lot of people, so all that contributed to the problem. Of course we’re disappointed that we couldn’t get the game started on time but these things happen from time to time.

“A good curtain-raiser would have been ideal, but we didn’t have one.”