The perils of weather and grass pitches are normally not a factor in the All Irland Championships but this is not an ordinary year.

Those who tuned into TG4 yesterday at 1-30 PM might have wondered why Dublin was playing in the Cork Vs Galway TG4 All Ireland Semi-Final. In fact, it was a rerun of last year’s Final and the live game was actually 20 minutes in and 4 kilometres away from where it should have been, at Croke Park.

The Parnell Park pitch was frozen and a call had to be made between shifting to Croke Park or postponing the game by a week.

The latter would have given only one week before the All Ireland Final so both teams were contacted and both said to have agreed to the shift.

Finish

It had to start half an hour earlier so as to guarantee a finish before the Men’s semi-final between Tipperary and Mayo that was already scheduled.

The Cork team had travelled up and stayed overnight but Galway were en route through foggy conditions and in the end made it to the stadium with only time for a seven-minute warm-up out on the pitch.

The game could not be televised at such short notice of a shift and so we missed out on seeing the action but the logistics of a late shift are always challenging.

If there had been a crowd in attendance it is unlikely it could have been done at all.

The game had been switched to Dublin from Limerick on Monday due to the Limerick Hurlers qualifying for the All Ireland Hurling Final and having said already that this would be the case in those circumstances.

The LGFA released a statement after the game outlining the timeline of yesterday morning’s events.

A morning pitch inspection deemed the original venue, Parnell Park, unplayable, due to severe frost.

The decision to move the game from Parnell Park, therefore, was made in the interests of player safety.

A request to accommodate the fixture at Croke Park was made to the GAA at 10:20am, and the LGFA was informed at 11am that the game could be played there.

The Galway team, in Kinnegad at the time, received first notification at 10:53am that there was an issue with Parnell Park.

We were acutely aware that Galway were travelling at the time, and they were informed that the LGFA had contacted Croke Park in relation to a potential venue and time change.

Galway were informed, once confirmation was forthcoming from Croke Park, at 11am, that they should proceed to the venue, for a 1pm throw-in.

The 1pm throw-in time was scheduled due to the fact that a result on the day was required, with extra-time and 30m kicks a possibility.

Cork, who were based in Dublin overnight, were also contacted at this stage and made aware of the new arrangements.

While recognising that a change of venue and time was not ideal, the alternative was to postpone the game. The health and safety of our players was to the forefront in the LGFA’s decision to proceed at Croke Park.

We wish to thank the GAA most sincerely for making Croke Park available to the LGFA at short notice.

The game got underway at 1:10pm, to afford both teams an extra ten minutes to prepare.

The LGFA regrets that the game was not available to viewers, despite concerted efforts to secure live coverage.

Social media had blown up at this stage and both managers in their post match press conferences spoke of how unfair it was on the teams, and the fans and families who were deprived of watching it at home.

 

Instead, we had to settle for Twitter updates and commentary on Galway Bay FM, (thanks, Alexa.)

Was it ideal? Clearly not but the flexibility shown by all parties did at least ensure that the game was played.

It is always easy to be critical and always an easier option to just call something off and replan in the comfort of having more time.

This was an unusual set of circumstances in the first place.  As a lesson, it was probably best to have secured a different original stadium but with the weather closing in across the country most probably would have been unable to host.

Croke Park and Pairc Uí Chaoimh are probably the two best pitches in the country but would Galway have accepted playing in Cork, we do not know.

The thing to do now is to look back over what other decisions might have been taken and learn from the experience.

Cork and Dublin will meet in the final, as was the most likely outcome regardless, and hopefully, we will not have to plan for too many December matches in future years.

 

Sport for Business Partners