"The risk would be that people would get involved with other spectators"

June 26, 2018

St Conleth's Park, Newbridge ©INPHO/Laszlo Geczo

The CCCC has suggested that supporters could have caused trouble outside St Conleth's Park if the ill-fared Qualifier between Kildare and Mayo proceeded there.

As the Newbridge venue has a capacity of around 8,000 and demand for tickets for Saturday night's game is expected to more than double this, the CCCC opted to strip the Lilywhites of their home advantage on Health & Safety grounds and fix the game for Croke Park.

Manager Cian O'Neill is insisting that his team won't consider playing anywhere else, while the GAA is adamant that Kildare will forfeit the game if they refuse to travel to HQ:

"People are eager to see their own county playing championship and it was a possibility that people would turn up seeking to get admission to try and buy tickets outside the ground despite knowing that tickets weren't available," CCCC chairman Ned Quinn told Off The Ball.

"The risk would be that people would get involved with other spectators, that's the risk.

"I wouldn't call it crowd trouble but there could be animosity shown to people who had tickets and they couldn't get them, claiming they were regular supporters of Kildare."


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