Munster hurling attendances up

An increase in hurling attendances at senior and U21 level saw a €500,000-plus bump in the finances of the Munster Council last year.

The province enjoyed a €508,995 improvement in gate receipts last year from 2013, the senior hurling championship, which included a replay, showing a impressive €714,119 increase.

The U21 hurling competition saw a rise of over €100,000 from 2013, although there were equivalent drops of €281,639 for senior football and €16,779 for combined minor championships.

The decrease incurred by the SFC was largely down to the Kerry-Cork final being staged in Páirc Uí Chaoimh last year compared to the more lucrative Fitzgerald Stadium in 2013. Should Cork and Kerry win their respective semi-finals this season, they will face off in Killarney.

In his report to next week’s annual convention, Munster chief executive Simon Moroney was happy to report the gate receipts jump.

“The benefit of this financial strength was shared with the units in the province by significant disbursements to the counties and clubs in the province via the various grants schemes,” he added.

The Munster Council did, however, see a drop of €52,000 in commercial revenue last year (€575,000 in 2013 down to €523,000) as one less live provincial game was shown on TV.

It was also found the average cost of attending a provincial senior hurling championship game comes to €18.50 compared to €16 for a senior football match. The average cost of attending other Munster games came to €6.80 per match.

A total of 28.6% of tickets were sold via participating counties with 28% through tickets.ie retail and SuperValu and Centra outlets. Moroney confirmed he will be continuing in his position for another year with a contract to option to continue beyond January 2016 for a further three years.

The Munster convention takes place in the Killarney Plaza Hotel next Friday.