Cooney: Attendance not a concern for championship

GAA President Christy Cooney believes the association will weather the recessionary storm blowing through Ireland's economy.

Youghal native Christy Cooney is optimistic that the summer turnstile numbers will hold up and says the provincial councils have a number of measures in place to respond to any downturn.

The President made his comments at a function in Croke Park in the company of Tyrone’s 2008 All-Ireland winning captain Brian Dooher and counter parts Ciarán McKeever of Armagh, Graham Canty of Cork, Paul Griffin of Dublin and Damien Burke of Galway.

Mayo’s Connacht championship win over New York last weekend kickstarted the 2009 competition and Fermanagh and Down and Louth and Carlow will enter the fray this weekend with their respective Ulster and Leinster assignments.

The first games of the GAA Football Munster Championship see Cork face Waterford and Tipperary clashing with Limerick on May 25.

Mr Cooney said: "The GAA has been well served by the quality of the games produced by the football championship in recent years and I have no reason to doubt that similar levels of dedication and commitment from the counties involved will give rise to a competition that will illuminate the summer.

"I suppose the big questions for football followers everywhere is whether Kerry can reverse the losing trend in games against Tyrone in recent seasons if their paths cross and whether a new county can come out of the pack and challenge a dominance shared by these two counties that now stretches back to 2002 when Armagh emerged victorious.

"We are all looking forward to another summer of top level action and I thank our supporters Toyota, Ulster Bank and Vodafone for their ongoing support and imaginative sponsorship of this competition."