Gavin unhappy with Croke Park surface after Westlife concerts

July 14, 2019

Dublin manager Jim Gavin. ©INPHO/Oisin Keniry.

Jim Gavin has reiterated his view that concerts should not be staged at Croke Park during the championship.

The Dublin manager was unhappy with the state of the pitch after last weekend's two Westlife concerts, just as he was in 2017 when Dublin played Kildare in the Leinster final a week after Coldplay had played the venue.

On both occasions, a section of the pitch at the Hill 16 end was dug up to make way for stages and then replaced, leading to players losing their footing more easily than in other parts of the ground.

Speaking to RTE after Dublin's Super 8s victory over Cork, Gavin said: "It’s obvious, you could see at ground level that the new sod that was laid, probably a few days ago, which I’m sure the ground staff, who are doing a great job, did under very challenging circumstances.

"I’ve expressed that before and it’s one for the stadium manager to answer. We’ll leave it at that."

Gavin was delighted to see his side run out 13-point winners after Luke Connolly's 46th minute penalty had left Cork within striking distance.

"This Dublin team has been very resilient over the years. They (Cork) got it back to three points in the second half and our lads responded very well to that. It was all hands on deck," he noted.

"I think we did well to limit Cork to 1-17, they are a very potent side. We might have got a penalty claim (in the early stages), but they looked really strong. We probably took out goal chances a bit better than they did, and that was the difference in the end."


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