Lowest attendance yet

YESTERDAY’S 22,732 crowd was the worst attendance for an All-Ireland quarter-final double-header at Croke Park since the introduction of the backdoor system in 2001.

The number was remarkably less than the previous lowest number which was the 34,301 that attended the 2005 SFC quarter-finals (Galway v Cork, Kerry v Mayo). There had been fears last week that the attendance would hover around the 20,000 and so it proved.

A crowd of 39,612 turned up for this weekend’s other quarter-final between Donegal and Kildare on Saturday, which featured the fourth round qualifier between Tyrone and Roscommon in the undercard.