Dean Rock: Time to play Leinster SFC final and All-Ireland quarter-finals outside Croke Park

Dublin supporters in splendid isolation in the Cusack Stand before the All-Ireland championship clash against Roscommon at Croke Park. Photograph: Ray McManus/Sportsfile

We were playing Whitehall Colmcille in Collins Avenue at 6.30pm, and many other clubs were caught in a similar predicament which left those involved with little or no chance of attending the game at Croke Park. We just don’t help ourselves at times!Dublin take championship on the road winning streak to Cavan

You could predict with relative confidence the three teams that will emerge from each group – all that is happening right now is a squabble over positions in the table. I can only imagine the eeriness of coming out to do your warm-up last Saturday, it would have felt like matches during Covid. Watching the game back during the week, you could hear people shouting in from the sidelines. The optics of it looked terrible from a presentation point of view for the GAA – because the empty stands indicate this is not a product for which people are prepared to spend money to attend.

And yet only 7,602 spectators turned up to Pearse Stadium. What does that tell us? It’s clear the system is a problem right now, and because people don’t believe there is enough on the line in these matches to justify their time and money, they are choosing to stay away. I don’t know why it took the Leinster Council so long to schedule Dublin for a championship game outside of Croke Park, but I do know every player in the Dublin dressingroom wanted to experience a championship match on the road.

You don’t get close to supporters at Croke Park, once the final whistle goes you are usually ushered down the tunnel. At times it felt a bit robotic, a bit sterile.

Gaa Croke-Park

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