Under a different kind of spotlight

The shift of the football season to a calendar-year basis is beginning to have a significant impact. Four months without serious intercounty competition has left the public gagging for a fix. Seán Moran reports

Cork v Kerry, Páirc Uí Rinn, throw-in 7.30: On TV: TG4

Withdrawal symptoms got so bad that last week 7,000 turned up for the O'Byrne Cup final. This weekend the wait is over as the Allianz National Football League emerges blinking into 2003.

The anticipation has been enhanced by a serendipitous draw (or the GAA having the wit to ordain it) that sees two historic matches taking place this weekend in Division One A.

Tonight, in Páirc Uí Rinn (7.30), Cork and Kerry will play the first major competitive football fixture under floodlights and tomorrow at Croke Park (2.30) Dublin and All-Ireland champions Armagh are expected to attract a record crowd for a regulation league match.

After all the off-field controversy in both counties, Cork and Kerry will be glad to concentrate on football. Páirc Uí Rinn has a capacity of 18,000 and a crowd of around 10,000 is expected.

Each county has experience of floodlit games as Stack Park in Tralee also has that facility.

John O'Keeffe, Kerry's fitness coach whose row with manager Páidí Ó Sé caused such tumult last month, has quite a bit of experience of teams playing under lights. In his capacity as an Ireland selector for the International Rules series in Australia in 1999 and 2001, he was involved with teams playing night matches in Melbourne and Adelaide.

"If these lights come close to what we experienced in Australia, especially in the MCG, it will be like playing in daylight," he says. "We have trained in Tralee with (lights) three sessions lately and they're not too bad. I haven't seen the ones in Cork before, but it will be the same for both teams and I haven't heard players complain.

"It's been suggested that players black under their eyes to prevent glare, but they don't seem to feel that's necessary.

"The whole idea of setting league matches under lights is a great idea for spectators and players so I'm hoping the lights will be of the necessary standard.

"It would be terrible if players complained about visibility. But they've played hurling under lights in Cork and if players can see a sliotar we won't be using it as an excuse."

Tomorrow, Dublin and Armagh will re-enact the counties' All-Ireland semi-final from last September. Ray Cosgrove, who ended up central to that match when his last-minute free hit the post, is suspended, but many of the first-choice cast will be on show.

Danny Lynch, the GAA's PRO, says that a crowd of around 50,000 is a possibility. "There are hardly any stand tickets left in Croke Park. There may be some still available in the counties but not too many I'd imagine. A limited number will be on sale tomorrow morning."

Lynch explains that the exercise isn't driven by exclusively commercial considerations. "It's probably going to cost money in the end," he says. "When you bear in mind that under-16s are getting in for free. But it's worth it for promotion.

"It's hard to put an exact figure on it because if the weather is bad a lot of ticket holders might give it a miss, but we'd be hoping for something in the region of 50,000."

The game will be preceded by the Walsh Cup hurling semi-final between Dublin and Laois at 12.30 p.m.

Remaining tickets will be on sale from four ticket outlets in the Croke Park area from 11 a.m. tomorrow. The outlets are located in the Credit Union on Fitzgibbon St, on the North Circular Road opposite Gills Pub, while there will be two outlets on Drumcondra Road (either side of Clonliffe Road junction).