Surprise as Hill 16 is out of bounds Gaelic GamesNews round-up

The Leinster Council yesterday confirmed that the Hill 16 area of Croke Park will not be available for the provincial football semi-finals of June 14th-15th because of preparations for the staging of the Special Olympics opening ceremony.

Work on the construction of the stage area at the Hill 16 end is set to begin on June 11th, over a week before the actual ceremony takes place on Saturday, June 21st.

It means that should Dublin get past Louth on June 1st they will be without their traditional Hill 16 support for the Leinster semi-final meeting with either Laois or Offaly.

The scale of the Special Olympics operation, which includes assembling the 250-foot wide by 85-foot high stage, necessitates such an early start.

Also to be carried out, but closer to the ceremony, is the laying of 14,000 square metres of protective covering for the pitch, as well as the installation of an extra 10,000 temporary seats.

Originally the Leinster Council had anticipated that half of the Hill 16 terrace area would still be available for the semi-finals, which were divided into Saturday and Sunday games.

Saturday's fixture will involve either Meath or Westmeath against either Longford or Kildare.

Leinster chairman Nicky Brennan admitted that the complete loss of the Hill 16 area had come as some surprise, although it was, he added, too early to anticipate what sort of effect it might have on the actual match attendance.

"To be honest we only became aware of the situation fairly recently," he said. "We had anticipated that we would have had half of Hill 16, and which would have been enough to get us out of any bother.

"But we understand that changes in the scale of the staging of the event have necessitated the use of all of Hill 16, which means it will be out of bounds for us on those days.

"It's a little unfortunate, but obviously given the event that it is we'll just press ahead with what we've got."

Should Dublin progress, however, it is likely that not all of the large section of their supporters that traditionally assemble in Hill 16 would be as happy to sit in the stand, and the overall attendance might take a hit.

Yet Brennan, sensibly, is holding back on any predictions of loss of revenue or otherwise. "Sure it all depends on the results of the next couple of weeks.

"And depending on certain combinations we may yet end up with the question of using Croke Park or not.

"And I think given the events last Sunday, most people are only looking at things from each game to each game."

The Special Olympics stage is set to extend across all of Hill 16 and also the vacant lot that exists in the old Nally stand area. The ceremony itself includes an extensive list of performers and invited guests, from U2 to Nelson Mandela.

There had been some concerns about potential damage to the pitch during the opening ceremony, and also the closing ceremony nine days later, but the organisers are confident the protective covering will ensure the surface remains largely untouched.

Croke Park resumes its GAA duties with the Leinster hurling final on July 6th.