Pairc Ui Chaoimh will not have its capacity reduced hugely after the release of the Slattery Report.

The GAA's national infrastructure and safety committee chairman Seamus McCloy told the Irish Examiner that only minor work to a section underneath the covered stand would be required, and that this shouldn't lead to a major reduction in the stadium's 43,500 capacity for the coming season. Depending on results, the Cork city venue could host two Munster semi-finals this year - the footballers against Kerry and the hurlers against Tipperary - before the first phase of reconstruction work begins towards the end of the year.

"There are no wholesale worries for Cork," the former Derry chairman said.

"It's just a case of addressing health and safety matters as there are for other county boards with their stadiums across the country. Not a whole lot of things have to be done. It might involve closing a couple of shops in the tunnel to improve access and more stewards. A few small things can be done to where they want to be."

He continued: "Cork have taken their responsibilities seriously. They're the biggest county board in Ireland and everybody knows about their plans to revamp the stadium.

"Whatever they have to do they will do. It's an on-going process and they have their engineers working with them. There's no animosity there nor is there between the committee with anyone else. On the whole, 99.9% of county boards are taking the recommendations seriously." Tweet

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