The capacity of St Conleth's Park could be halved unless Kildare chiefs improve its safety rating.

The official capacity of the Lilywhites' county grounds is currently between 11,000 and 12,000, but this would be cut to around 6,000 if a new health and safety audit of the venue is ignored. If improvements aren't made in line with the audit, it would be almost impossible for Kildare to host senior championship matches in Newbridge.

As the GAA implements a raft of health and safety audits at county grounds around the country, officials from all County Boards were summoned to Croke Park for a two-day event management course.

Kildare now have a draft report of the recommendations in their possession and are examining it to see where they can make improvements to maintain the ground's capacity at an acceptable level.

They may opt to use space beneath the stand to expand the capacity and they could also be forced to get rid of the section of grassed terrace on the opposite sideline.

Kildare County Board was hoping to construct a new multi-million Euro county venue at Old Connell but that dream went up in smoke along with the Celtic Tiger. Tweet

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