All-Ireland SHC semi-final special: Limerick-Waterford throw in delayed until 5.30

Semi-final pushed back by 30 minutes to 5.30 pm as a result of a truck shedding its load of round straw bales on the M7

Sat, 07 Aug, 2021 - 16:57

John Fogarty

The GAA have confirmed they put back today's All-Ireland SHC semi-final by half an hour to avoid further accidents.

The throw-in for the Limerick and Waterford game was pushed by 30 minutes to 5.30 pm as a result of a truck shedding its load of round straw bales on the M7 at Junction 9A, Naas. With supporters from both counties using the road to get to Croke Park and being discommoded, the call was announced after 4 pm.

"There was a lot of water on the road and that reduced the motorway to two lanes,” explained GAA stadium and commercial director Peter McKenna. “Then there was a truck carrying hay and it shed its load and that just like created bedlam, it brought everything down to one lane. So we talked it through with the Gardaí.

“We met again at 4 o’clock, we felt the traffic was still heavy, there was a three or four-mile tailback. The safest thing to do was to delay the game by half an hour, let the teams know - they wouldn’t really have started their training at that stage, or their pre-match routine.

“It is in the interests of health and safety. It causes havoc, I know, for the team preparation; havoc for RTÉ and Sky because really at this time of the evening it hits their evening schedules. But that’s the rationale for it.”

The GAA wanted to avoid supporters rushing to get to Croke Park. McKenna continued: “That was the real thought, that people would then start to rush to get to the game, in order to make the throw-in time. If we get a message out, once people hear it on radio, they’ll just follow the traffic normally and won’t try and rush themselves in.

“The extra half-hour, we believe, will be more than sufficient to get everybody in. And it’s not a full house, it’s 24,000, so we have a bit of flexibility in terms of turnstiles and that set-up.”