Munster final crowd helps add €1m to GAA coffers

The GAA last night expressed delight with the attendance figures for the bumper weekend just passed — and the summer in general — with the combined numbers climbing well over the 100,000 mark for the first time this season.

A total of 112,461 people took in the 12 hurling and football fixtures around the country on Saturday and Sunday and, even with various concessions taken into consideration, those numbers are worth over €1m to the association coffers.

The Munster SHC final between Tipperary and Waterford drew the biggest audience, with 26,438 coming through the Páirc Uí Chaoimh turnstiles, while the smallest gathering was in Portlaoise where 2,950 attended the football qualifier between Laois and Monaghan.

“We have made a prolonged effort, along with the provinces first and foremost, this summer,” said GAA spokesman Alan Milton. “We would have been very conscious of the crowded marketplace this summer and also the financial difficulties a lot of people are currently facing.

“We’re going to be rolling out a lot more for the national fixtures now as well. We have a family fun zone in the Davin Stand car park on Sunday [for the Leinster football final] and we will be honouring the teams from 1991 as well.

“We’ve also been using a mobile screen throughout the championship. It’s been in five venues so far and it was in Dr Hyde Park [on Sunday].

“There are a few factors that come into it. You can’t do anything about the weather. There are some people who just won’t come out to a game regardless of anything else if it is raining. But we have had a fantastic weekend.

“The day in Páirc Uí Chaoimh especially was brilliant. We had great crowds in Roscommon and Cavan as well. With Dublin playing Meath, Donegal and Down and then Kerry and Tyrone we’ll probably get through the 100,000-mark with those three alone next weekend.”

With Dublin and Meath meeting in a first Leinster decider for 11 years, the expectation is that the province’s blue riband fixture will attract its biggest crowd since the Dubs overcame Wexford in 2008 in front of 80,112 fans. That was the last of the seasons where attendances of 80,000-plus were commonplace at Croke Park for those games.