GAA DIRECTOR-GENERAL Paraic Duffy admits that ‘it is not ideal’ in terms of location to bring Waterford and Wexford to Páirc Uí Chaoimh for the All-Ireland hurling quarter-final but feels it was the right decision given the magnitude of the occasion to mark the opening of the redeveloped stadium.
Three years ago the counties clashed in Nowlan Park in the qualifiers and last year they met in Thurles for their quarter-final.
18,964 supporters attended the 2014 tie, and while the Kilkenny venue would be closer to both counties, it was felt that the interest from supporters will be far greater on this occasion, given the progress both have made since.
Staging the game in Páirc Uí Chaoimh has raised concerns over traffic problems as both sets of supporters will be travelling the same route and Duffy acknowledges they must be addressed.
“I understand that and absolutely appreciate that. We did discuss that. Geographically, it is not ideal and there will be traffic issues that will have to be addressed as well as possible.
“But because we are opening a brand new stadium, a great facility, the feeling was that we would go for the two games over the weekend.
“Given the occasion that it is, and it is not too often that we have an opening of a stadium of this quality, I think that people will understand that as a once-off, that is fine.
“I don’t think Nowlan Park would have catered for the crowds that they would get for this game, absolutely not.”
Duffy believes a double-header was not an option given the interest in the opening matches.
“We felt that if we played them on the one day you wouldn’t be able to accommodate all who wanted to go, so we didn’t want to take that risk.
“We are opening a new stadium, (so) there’s a curiosity factor as well and people would want to see it. I think in fairness to supporters we divided them over two days.
“Given the enthusiasm in Cork at the moment, I think a lot of Cork people would want to go on one or both the occasions as well. Everybody who wants to go from the competing counties can do so now.
“There’ll be a good wow factor when people see it and it’s really impressive and a great stadium.”
Duffy revealed staging quarter-finals at the Cork venue is ‘not a permanent arrangement’ and didn’t rule out the possibility of other games being staged there this summer if All-Ireland semi-final replays are required.
“It depends on the pairings, but you would never rule it out. At the moment all that’s planned for Páirc Uí Chaoimh are the two quarter-finals, it’s a matter for the CCCC to fix games after that.
“It’s not a permanent arrangement. What happened was at the last Central Council meeting the CCCC recommended the quarter-finals be played there this year, and that was as far as it went.
“There was nothing decided beyond that. We are just looking at these two games at this stage.”
Hawk-Eye will in the future be in operation in Páirc Uí Chaoimh but for the quarter-final ties the company will supervise score detection technology at the venue.
“We are not using the HawkEye cameras — that’s the only difference. We just weren’t ready, those are high-speed cameras.
“There will be cameras, there is a score detection system and it will be powered by Hawk-Eye technology. That explains it as best as I can.”
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I don’t think I’ll understand when I’m sitting in traffic for hours trying to get there
It was the one fixture that makes no sense to be fixed for the Pairc, at least tip and Clare can come from different arteries to the city.
The N25 struggles to deal with volumes of traffic at killeagh and castlemartyr on a normal day.
Plus the planning conditions of the stadium build include a traffic management plan which means a long walk or shuttle bus when ye arrive.
My advice is Come Friday go home Monday, enjoy a bit of Corkness, ye’ll be better happier people for the experience.
@Ray Laffan: oh if only my wife had no problem with me spending the weekend in cork, meanwhile I will have to make my way up and down from waterford Sunday and as much as I am looking forward to both the match and seeing the new pairc I am not looking forward to the journey.
Thurles maybe would have made it easier on both sets of fans as he is right Kilkenny wouldn’t hold the crowd. But as we can see with the decision to sell some of the rights to sky the Gaa rarely takes into consideration the supporters.
To anyone that hasn’t been there (mainly Wexford I’d assume) coming in from the Waterford side, once you hit the tunnel junction there will probably be a lot of traffic heading straight to the town centre area. An alternative is to go left, take the tunnel and first exit thereafter, map pairc ui rinn or cork constitution from there and park in that area, the walk down is as close as you’ll get anywhere really from there. I’m sure the guards will probably adjust accordingly anyway but just to give an idea for alternatives.
@MunsterFan: did that myself for munster final in 2014 travelling from Limerick via the tunnel. Right job I’d have to say and walk isn’t anywhere near as bad. Only down point is your selection of watering holes are very limited. Proper pr1ck of a place to get to but IMO best ground to watch a hurling match hope it’s as tight as the old stadium where you always felt on top of the play.
@MunsterFan: great advice for people traveling. Handy walk from pairc ui Rinn.
Stand tickets that are available for both these games seem to be in corner of stands only – the others can all have gone to clubs and season ticket holders.
Reckon there will be many of Frank’s pals sitting in the best seats!
@John Fitzpatrick: *can’t all have
@John Fitzpatrick: Tried to get three stand tickets together just now and couldn’t. Lower South seems to be unavailable, and can only get two together in the Upper. Terrace it is so. Seems to be selling very well, in spite of the inevitable traffic issues.
Thank God it’s not Thurles, awful results through the years from a Wexford point of view and an awful place to get to from Wexford!
Pairc Ui Choimh is exciting place to go to, and in any case North Wexfordians can skip onto the m8 via Kilkenny.
Hope it’ll be a proper Sunny South-East el classico, Hon Wexford
Allow 3-5 hours to get through killeagh and castlymartyr can’t even get morning traffic through there for the last 5 months
Crazy decision to have this match in Cork, Thurles was the obvious venue but that’s the GAA , heads in the sand , but the bank balance rules
@Tom Gorey: I think to be fair if you’d just completed the building from scratch of the nations second largest capacity ground which bear in mind was supposed to hold the Munster Finals in both codes ( I think?) then wanting to host the quarter finals I think is fair enough and if you lived in Antrim I think seeing the new Pairc Ui Caoimh will be a privilege and yes new stadia do need paying for how else did you think it worked?
Ticket sales @gaatickets.ie are a shambles. Release time of hurling quarter final tickets only announced at the last minute so it was impossible to plan ahead & book ticket at the earliest opportunity. Zero transparency – there’s never a seating plan showing what’s sold & allowing you to choose from the remaining seats as per ticket master. It is designed to create a frenzy. There is no way to tell if the tickets being offered are the best available or if tickets in more central sections of the stand are being held back until the tickets for the end sections have been off loaded. It’s a deceitful way of treating supporters
Any news on the referees for the matches?
@John: i just heard. They’re definitely going to have a referee.
@filthypete: no shit sherlock
@John: you ok hun?
@filthypete: woof
@John: touché