GAA ‘want to knock’ inter-county venues

Waterford County Board chairman Paddy Joe Ryan has claimed the GAA and the Munster Council “would love to” demolish the Gaelic Grounds and Fitzgerald Stadium.

Ryan made his comments alongside county secretary Pat Flynn yesterday as they revealed plans to redevelop Walsh Park into a €5m, 16,000-capacity stadium in the space of 12 months from the time planning permission is granted.

“The Munster Council and the GAA, there are four big stadiums in Munster now; they’d love to knock two of them,” Ryan told WLR FM’s Déise Today programme. “They’d love to keep Thurles and Páirc Uí Chaoimh but the other two, they’re not getting used. Limerick close down their stadium for four or five months of the year to get a rates revaluation.