Croker pitch will be ‘pristine’ for Championship

GAA president Liam O’Neill says the Croke Park pitch is suffering after a busy start to 2013 — but insists it’ll be fine for the Championship.

O’Neill was at GAA headquarters yesterday to confirm five separate charities will receive €20,000 each from the organisation.

Outside on the field, experts were working hard to restore a lush green pasture to areas that were visibly patchy and sandy after a hectic few weeks.

March was a particularly busy period for Croke Park, with the Dublin footballers in action there on four consecutive weekends as part of their Spring Series of games.

Both Dublin teams fulfilled a double-header of games there on the Saturday of St Patrick’s weekend, with the two AIB All-Ireland club finals taking place there the following afternoon.

Of course, underage games continue to be played at Croke Park, with O’Neill confirming that 20,000 children between the ages of eight and 12 have played there in the last four years.

It is almost certain that the Allianz Football League semi-finals will be played at the Jones Road venue on Sunday week, along with the overall final, while the Division 3 and 4 deciders could take place there.

“The pitch did suffer, there’s no doubt about that,” said O’Neill. “We have a fantastic team looking after the pitch and my stance on it is, the pitch is there to be used.

“It will be right by the time the Championship comes around. It’s, I suppose, a testament to how well the pitch is manicured and looked after that you would comment on it being anything other than pristine.

“My answer to that is, we want people playing on the pitch, we want the children out there.

“We will have it right for the summer. We could have refused them (children) playing out there today if the pitch was the priority in the whole thing but children come first, they’re our future.”

Dublin’s Spring Series of games wasn’t as successful as previous campaigns in terms of drawing out supporters to Croke Park.

Less than 11,000, the lowest crowd yet for a Spring Series tie, watched Dublin beat Down in their final game of the series late last month.

“Three of the games here were played in the coldest conditions possible and that had to have an effect on the gates,” said O’Neill.

“People don’t want to come out and sit in the cold. We were most unfortunate in that. I would be very open minded at the moment.

“I’ve listened to Dublin on it. The pitch is still available and it’s up to them to make the decision. I’ve said all along, the more people we can get into the stadium to watch our games the better.”

Meanwhile, O’Neill said he’d happily support plans for a hurling version of the Football Review Committee which recently proposed wide ranging changes in the game at Annual Congress.

“If there is a willingness, I would love people to say that they wanted to discuss hurling and I would facilitate the process and I’d be delighted with it,” said the Laois man. “But I’d want to know first of all if there’s going to be a buy-in. I’d want to avoid a situation where people would cast aspersions on us because we’re doing it.”