THE PÁIRC UÍ CHAOIMH pitch is under renewed focus today after yesterday’s double-header on Leeside.
The sod at the new stadium looked in very poor condition after the county footballers’ defeat to Kildare.
John Meyler’s hurlers then took on Wexford — and lost — on a pockmarked field.
“The pitch was in a horrible state, to be honest with you, for hurling,” Tomas Mulcahy told RTÉ radio afterwards.
“Trying to play hurling after you’ve played football previously… there were lumps of sod all over the pitch. Players were going to pick the ball, failed to pick it; not just the first time – you could excuse that at this time of the year – but four and five times failing to pick up the ball. Falling into holes and stuff like that, a lot of throws-in.
“I think it was disappointing from a Cork perspective on that basis alone to have the pitch in the way that it was. But then the performance afterwards… there’s no excuse for it.”
Peter McKenna, Croke Park stadium director, indicated before Christmas that ‘remedial work’ would have to take place on the pitch and spectators at the redeveloped Marina venue yesterday quickly realised why.
“We knew before the game that the surface was pretty bad,” said Wexford boss Davy Fitzgerald, “and you can see that we knock the ball around pretty okay, whether it’s ball to hand or on the ground.
“We made up our minds that no matter what the surface was like – you’re coming down thinking things will be pretty good, the stadium is incredible and I love it, so it’s a pity about the top of the surface.
“It’s actually quite solid, I don’t know why it’s tearing on top as much as it is. Even when I was a player, one place I loved coming was down here. They need to have a look at it, I’m sure they’ll get it right.”
Fitzgerald’s visitors ultimately ran out four-point victors but the Rebels camp insisted the underfoot conditions were no excuse for the home side, who face Clare at the stadium in a fortnight’s time.
“There’s no secret about it, the surface was tough,” said hurling selector Donal O’Mahony afterwards.
“Especially the way we play, we want to play fast hurling and then the ball is getting stuck and things like that.
“They’d be physically stronger than us so it probably suited their gameplan a bit more than ours. I thought they out-muscled us at times but definitely the surface didn’t help.”
He continued: “We don’t look for excuses. It’s not an excuse why we lost the game. They were better than us on the day, they outworked us and they outfought us. The pitch was as bad for them as it was for us.
They are physically stronger than us, it became a dogfight there in the middle third, the two half-back lines, they came out on top and that’s more the reason why we lost the game rather than the pitch.”
The county’s football boss Ronan McCarthy, meanwhile, admitted the pitch cost Cork at specific moments, but echoed the sentiment that it was the same for both teams.
“The one bit where the pitch really affected us was the penalty,” he said.
“We actually got a great block down on the Kildare player shooting for a point and it ricocheted up into the air; Ronan O’Toole, who was standing under it, lost his footing. That is where the pitch affected us. It players unsure of their footing and their passing. It was the same for both teams.”
Well at least now they know where to spend that extra 20 mil of contingency money.
@mr lanister: the extra money went on the stands, they had to knock all the stands where as the plans for the stadium didn’t call for that. the sod is probably the same one that was there before the redevelopment
They should pay someone 500000 to see whers it went wrong but dont blame anyone .than pay same agai. To fix it ..Irish economics
I said the same on an article last week. It’s not being looked after. Have a look at the Kildare GAA tweet with a picture of the stadium following their win there. There are green moss stains on the terraces. The place will be a dump in a few years time.
It’s just incredible how the pitch can be so bad after the amount of money that has been pumped into it.
“They outworked us and out fought us”…..same old story.
Shur the ticket price increases will have the extra €20/30/40 million paid off in same number of years. Unless the next government writes another cheque from some international fund and clears the debt for them
For the level that cork are playing at that pitch is more than suitable
@Bungee Aky: Division 1A and winner of the last 2 Munster finals you mean? Our pitch is a disgrace but thats a stupid comment
Get with the program Munster titles are like confetti at a wedding as soon as it hits the ground it’s useless- it about winning Liam McCarthy and we in Cork are as far away from winning it as we ever were. We have players not capable of playing hurling at inter county level and depending on the same failed set of backs
They should make one more significant investment in the form of a state of the art 4G artificial playing surface. Pile as many games into it throughout the year, along with concerts as well as the possibility of other sports. It would be the first of it kind regarding large GAA venues. A stadium with as much debt needs to be operating for 90% of the calendar year for maximum revenue return.