Stadium issue a ground for concern

Kerry chairman Sean Walsh has become the latest county board official to address the issue of Croke Park and competition with the proposed Stadium Ireland development, warning that the new stadium could put individual counties under financial pressure.

Speaking at Tuesday night's annual convention in Tralee, Walsh, who is opposed to other sports being played at Croke Park, warned of the large amounts of money that will be available to other sporting organisations if they use the proposed national stadium.

Walsh told the delegates that he was concerned about the availability of finance for counties in the event of the GAA coming under pressure to pay for the development of Croke Park.

He agreed that the development of Croke Park was necessary, but he also stated that other sporting organisations are likely to have large amounts of money to spend on the promotion of their games if they take advantage of the Stadium Ireland development, and as a result, there will be increased pressure on individual counties to fund their GAA development programmes.

"What I am emphasising is that we have put our money into Croke Park," said Walsh yesterday. "The GAA deserves Croke Park and it is testimony to the success of our organisation.

"And if money is not available from Croke Park then every county will have to fund their own games promotion programme with the help of the provincial council.

"But I'm not suggesting that Croke Park open its gates to outside sports. I'm still totally opposed to soccer being played in Croke Park because it won't stop there. You'll also be taking about soccer being played in Killarney and Tralee and places like that and we have enough games to play there as it is."

Walsh's comments come after two other prominent county officials aired their views on the future of Croke Park - both of whom suggested that the gates be opened to other sporting organisations.

Kilkenny county board secretary Pat Dunphy will say that Croke Park should be run as a business by opening itself to other sports when he delivers his annual report to convention on Sunday.

Westmeath secretary Paddy Collins has presented a somewhat similar opinion, stating that he hoped that the association would have the capacity to take decisions based solely on what is best for the future.

At Dublin's convention on Monday, county secretary John Costello made reference to that fact that Parnell Park had a limited capacity and said the possibility of staging major games in the proposed national stadium should be examined.

The issue will not be officially discussed until next year's annual Congress. Meanwhile, St Keiran's, Kilkenny yesterday retained their Leinster colleges senior hurling league title after defeating Good Counsel, New Ross 5-3 to 0-3 at Carrigeen. The bad weather of recent weeks had delayed the fixture.

The result has no effect on the knockout stages of the championship, which begins with the quarter-finals on the week beginning February 12th.