Ryan: Cork must now host big games
Ryan has revealed the Cork County Board will lobby GAA top brass to stage the All-Ireland football and hurling quarter-finals at Páirc Uí Chaoimh upon completion of the stadium’s regeneration.
The All-Ireland football quarter-finals have not been played outside of Croke Park since 2001, the maiden summer of the qualifier system.
Semple Stadium and Croke Park alternate the staging of the hurling quarters, but no other venue has ever received consideration.
Ryan believes awarding Páirc Uí Chaoimh the hurling quarter-finals is common sense, given the participating counties are traditionally from Munster.
He added that supporters should not be expected to travel to Dublin every second weekend when there will be an alternative venue capable of hosting important championship fixtures.
Criticism of the €70 million redevelopment has been widespread, in particular the Government’s decision to allocate €30m to help fund the work.
Ryan defended the regeneration project, asserting it was high time counties outside the capital were catered for.
“People have criticised the money given for the Páirc Uí Chaoimh redevelopment, but I would say it is long overdue.
“Hundreds of millions of euro has been pumped into Dublin so why shouldn’t Cork, the largest county and second largest city, also get a fair slice of the pie?” he argued.
Ryan continued: “We’d question why all the big games are just pencilled in for Dublin. Why should GAA supporters have to head to Dublin every year for these games when there will be a stadium in Cork capable of holding them? It is the same distance from Cork to Dublin as it is from Dublin to Cork. Why should Croke Park have a stranglehold on these games?
“In hurling particularly, we will be making a strong case to host the All-Ireland quarter-finals. The competing counties are traditionally Galway, Kilkenny and the Munster teams. Geographically, it would make a huge pile of sense to have these games in Páirc Uí Chaoimh. It would cut travel time. The newly refurbished Páirc Uí Chaoimh, we hope, will be a big player in housing the summer’s biggest games.”
Ryan also revealed the Cork board will seek a greater number of provincial deciders at the Leeside venue.
Since the turn of the millennium, the Munster hurling final has been awarded to Páirc Uí Chaoimh on five occasions, three less than Semple Stadium.
“It will be at the Munster Council’s discretion where finals are played, but we will be lobbying for more. It will depend on the pairing. In hurling, in the years we are not involved, we would be making a strong case they be played in Cork. In the league, we have a home and away agreement with Kilkenny for the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final. Indeed, we would make a strong case that more hurling league semis come to Páirc Uí Chaoimh.”
Ryan rejected the suggestion there were already sufficient stadia in the province to adequately cater for Munster championship games.
“That wouldn’t be a great approach for a Corkman to take. Our people need this facility and it will be widely used for club and county purposes.
“It will form a major stadium for Munster championship matches into the future as it has in the past. It will have the proper facilities that patrons and players expect. It will also host major concerts which is a major source of income and revenue to the people that live and work in Cork.”
Meanwhile, GAA director general Páraic Duffy admits the GAA would probably revise its decision to go ahead with the reconstruction of Páirc Uí Chaoimh if there wasn’t an existing framework of a stadium there.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio yesterday, he said: “You can argue that in Munster we also have Thurles and probably if you were starting with a blank sheet of paper now you wouldn’t develop stadia to the same capacity as we currently have. The reality is Limerick (Gaelic Grounds) is there and Killarney (Fitzgerald Stadium) is there and you’re not going to knock them so you have to work as best you can.”
Duffy highlighted that Páirc Uí Chaoimh was a key venue in the IRFU’s Rugby World Cup bid. He indicated the GAA would contribute no more than €20m to the project but stressed the importance of a top class stadium in the city. “I’ve been in Páirc Uí Chaoimh many times in the last few years — Páirc Uí Chaoimh needs to be developed. It’s certainly not the standard you want it to be. It’s no longer a top-class venue.
“As the third city in the country behind Dublin and Belfast, I think Cork needs a major stadium. In terms of Páirc Uí Chaoimh, either you knock it down or you redevelop it. Knocking it is not realistic.”
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