GAA president Larry McCarthy says the decision not to increase the capacity for Saturday week’s All-Ireland SFC final at Croke Park is down to a lack of "expertise".

The GAA confirmed yesterday that the game will be staged in front of 41,500 spectators at the Jones’ Road venue.

From this Monday, September 6, the government is allowing attendances of 75% venue capacity at outdoor events for those who are fully vaccinated.

While it given hope to supporters of Mayo and Tyrone that 60,000 might be allowed through the gates at headquarters, the GAA announced that it would still be setting the capacity at 50% as planned.

Mr McCarthy explained the decision when speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland:

"It was a logistical issue - we have not trialled being able to check vaccine passports or vaccine documentation," he said. "So it was too onerous to get 60,000 into Croke Park in a condensed time. We didn't think we had the expertise to do it so we decided we would stick with the current amount.

"You're not only checking a vaccine passport but you're checking a photo ID and you're checking a ticket. That could take up to three minutes. If we were super competent at it we might be able to reduce that but the time frame was much too onerous for us to get it done efficiently.

"All tickets have been allocated at this stage, and about 50% had been allocated by the time we got word from the government that there was a possibility of going to 61,000.

"We would have liked to do it, no doubt. But we decided with all caution that we should stay with the current figure."

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