Dream final just the ticket for Killarney

FOR that 2008 season when Kerry and Cork were kept apart in the Munster draw, Der Brosnan wouldn’t have had to cross his fingers.

But last October he knotted them, praying the draw be good. Not to him, not to Kerry but to Fitzgerald Stadium. That Kerry and Cork had to beat a couple of other teams to get to Killarney on Sunday didn’t make it a fait accompli but things looked a lot rosier for Brosnan after they were split. He could begin to dream.

“We were always hoping,” says the stadium chairman. “From my perspective, we’re €2 million in debt, we need these games. Not like Semple Stadium and the Gaelic Grounds... they get at least two big games a year.

“We’ve got one big game in each of the last three years because of the luck of drawn matches.

“Next year, if they play each other the game will go to Cork (if there is no replay on Sunday) and we still have a considerable debt still to pay.”

Concerts would have been seen as an alternative stream of revenue but not anymore. Since the reconstruction in 2009, the stadium’s gig capacity is 25,000, which is considered too small by promoters for the big acts. Until they get it back up to 40,000 it’s a no-go.

So it is on the bread of Sunday alone that Fitzgerald Stadium will have to live on this year. But what a crust.

This week the Kerry County Board reported record ticket sales on a Monday prior to a home-staged Munster final.

“You just wouldn’t have the same crowd in a Kerry/Cork Munster semi-final as in a Kerry/Cork Munster final,” says Fitzgerald Stadium event controller John Lenihan. “That kind of Munster final in Killarney is the biggest tourist attraction of the whole year. Financially, business-wise, it means so much.”

Sunday marks the big day for Brosnan and Lenihan in their first year in their positions, Brosnan having been appointed by the Kerry County Board and Lenihan taking over from Billy Doolan after assisting him for the last 10 years.

The pair have already been tested with the €100,000 worth of damage done to the state-of-the-art dressing rooms last December after a frozen oil tank burst.

That’s not to mention the damage done by the biting cold snap to the playing surface.

“The pitch and the dressing room took the hammerings from the sharp frost,” recalls Brosnan. “We had a programme for the pitch because of the damage done. We brought in a consultant and he gave us a programme for fertilising and the like. We stuck with him and we think the pitch is now in a fabulous condition.”

The dressing rooms were part of a €4.8m redevelopment completed in 2009 and the hope is to improve the terrace at the other end of the field as well as working on theO’Sullivan Stand further down the line.

But on Sunday they will work with what they have, primarily the biggest terrace in the province at 30,000.

With a sell-out crowd expected, the onus will be on patrons getting into the stadium well before the 2pm throw-in.

“Fitzgerald Stadium is so familiar to Cork people that we wouldn’t be overly worried about it but with so many people standing, you have to take plenty of precautions.

“Any ordinary day when we’d have 10 to 12,000 people in, everyone would come through the turnstiles.

“But on Sunday, those with terrace tickets will enter from three different points, colour-coded green, blue and red. With that, you have to allocate car parks to each colour to make it easier for people so it has involved a lot of signage.”

To help them get ready, the Kerry County Board have eight workers on a FÁS scheme doing various jobs around the venue such as painting.

“It’s been tough going with some bad weather but we’re getting there,” smiles Lenihan. “We hope to have the place looking spick and span come Sunday.”

Brosnan and Lenihan’s working day at the stadium will begin sometime before 7am. An hour later 60 Munster Council chief stewards will join them. At 10am, the 140 stewards who have volunteered their services to the county board from Duhallow to south Kerry will begin their shift.

Lenihan will work in tandem with Munster Council secretary Pat Fitzgerald throughout the day.

Forgive him if he’s hoping more for an uneventful first Munster SFC final day than a Kerry victory. “We really don’t care about the result, as such,” insists Dr Crokes man Brosnan. “Just supporters coming away safe and happy they got a good game in a good environment.”

nAn Taoiseach Enda Kenny will lead the commemorations of the 75th anniversary of the opening of Fitzgerald Stadium in Killarney at 3.30pm on Saturday.