The Ulster Council has expressed its delight at the attendance for last Sunday's opening game of the 2012 Ulster SFC between Donegal and Cavan.

At a time when GAA attendances are falling nationwide, the trend was bucked when 12,847 filed through the Kingspan Breffni Park turnstiles for the preliminary round meeting of the reigning Ulster champions and Terry Hyland's young Cavan side. It was the biggest crowd to attend an Ulster SFC preliminary round game since 2010 when Derry and Armagh drew an attendance of 10,242.

The figure was almost double that which watched Cavan's last preliminary round game against Antrim in 2009, while it was 5,462 more than the attendance for last year's preliminary round meeting of Donegal and Antrim in Ballybofey.

"Nothing beats being there," Ulster Council spokesman Ryan Feeney enthused. Tweet

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