The capacity of Cusack Park is set to increase to over 20,000 after Clare county board purchased a parcel of land adjacent to the Ennis venue at a cost of €500,000.

Following the release of the Slattery Report, Cusack Park's capacity was halved from 28,000 to 14,000, prompting the need for extra ground to carry out necessary improvement work.

"Prior to that report, the capacity was 27,846," Clare secretary Pat Fitzgerald told a recent county board meeting.

"We asked our consultant engineer, Niall Fitzgerald, to take it in hand and we had extensive discussions with Croke Park and they agreed that if we were to put a plan in place and follow it, the capacity could be increased to 20,500.

"We got an opportunity to purchase a bit of ground behind the Cloister, which will help, with the provision of turnstiles to bring us back up to the 18,000 mark again."

He continued: "At Cusack Park, we own 9.8 acres and 7/8 of this is landlocked. The real problem is if we were to get a big game, it would be filled from one lane and this resulted in safety issues, which led to the suggestion to reduce the capacity." Tweet

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