Pitch battle as Thurles groundsman on weather watch

Cutting up of the pitch is the main concern of Semple Stadium custodian David Hanley as he and his team prepare the venue for this weekend’s five championship games in two days.

The Thurles pitch will play host to three games tomorrow - Tipperary v Louth footballers and then the Dublin-Limerick and Clare-Cork round 2 hurling qualifiers - before they get it ready again for the Munster senior and minor hurling finals on Sunday.

With the weather taking a turn for the worse, Hanley knows the job may be made more difficult. He’s checking the forecast on an hourly basis. He’s also recruited extra volunteers to ensure the turf is in good nick for the weekend’s marquee game between Tipperary and Waterford.

“We’ll do our absolute best,” said Hanley. “We won’t refuse a match anyway. There is shocking weather forecasted but we’ll do what we have to do. I can’t do anything about the weather and we’ll just have to work around it and we’ll get the job done. I have good people with me and it won’t be for the lack of effort that things won’t be right.

“I have a good few volunteers coming in to help this weekend and only for them I would be badly caught. They are never afraid to come in and to be fair to them they have pride in the place as well and want to see it looking well.

“My biggest worry would be cutting for Sunday and lining (the pitch). The way the weather is going, I’m going to have a window on Sunday morning and that’s all I need to get it done.

“We’re working every day on the field so the preparation work would be monstrous but that goes for every field. I was down in Killarney last weekend and there was a super job done there. We’re just trying to get it ready from a Saturday to a Sunday.”

Hanley admits the volume of games in Semple Stadium this weekend is unprecedented. “We do have four games in two days almost every year with the club quarter-finals, two games Saturday and two games Sunday. But we would never have this amount of games of this importance - if that’s not unfair to the clubs. A Munster final, that’s what we would be gearing towards. It’s the be-all and end-all for us. ”

As much as the pitch work will be intensive, the Templemore man points out a lot of work will also go into getting the stadium itself ready for day two of a busy weekend.

“Not alone are we looking at the field, we’re looking at turning around the stadium as well.

“It’s just a mammoth task - you have two stands, terraces, six dressing rooms, two refs rooms, a drugs test room, a first aid room.

“It just goes on and on and people wouldn’t know what you have to do to turn it around.”