Killarney replay huge boost for Council coffers

Last year’s Munster SFC final replay in Killarney played a major part in the provincial council reporting a jump of almost €1m in total gate receipts from 2014.

The €922,957 increase was reflected in the gate receipts for the senior football championship, which amounted to €988,148.

The football numbers compensated for a relatively small drop of €127,705 in gate receipts for the hurling competition.

In his annual report, Munster secretary Simon Moroney stressed the importance of replays to the financial coffers of the province and the promotional factor attached to such games.

Writing before Central Council agreed to exclude provincial and All-Ireland finals from a motion calling for the end of replays in the All-Ireland senior championships, Moroney remarked: “I do not agree that mandatory extra time should be played in all drawn games.

"I would exclude provincial quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals from this proposal.

"I say this because of the promotional and financial importance of high-profile replays which arise at these stages of the provincial Championships.

“We should not underestimate the promotional value of high-profile replays in the Provincial Championships, whether it is Kerry v Cork in the Munster Football final replay in 2015 or Waterford v Cork in the 2014 Munster hurling quarter-final.

The internal county championship fixtures programmes should be robust enough to withstand the disruption to club championship plans arising from occasional replays.”

Moroney continued: “It should also be remembered that the unbudgeted revenue from such high-profile replays contribute significantly to the capacity of the Provincial Council to redistribute a bigger pot of resources to constituent counties and clubs.

"While money is not the key focus of our activities, equally it is necessary to ensure that we can deliver adequate coaching and games development funding, necessary supports to GAA activity in the educational sector, and financial assistance to infrastructural developments at club and county level.”