Ballyhale Shamrocks manager Pat Hoban expressed disappointment with the state of the Croke Park pitch after their All-Ireland final victory over Dunloy.
The surface was relaid after the five Garth Brooks concerts at GAA headquarters last September but the new pitch has been noticeably patchy as the provincial and All-Ireland club series came to a climax either side of Christmas and it was in particularly poor condition today, with very little grass in areas.
It no doubt contributed to what was an unremarkable spectacle as Ballyhale ground out the win in the end.
“For an All-Ireland final, if that was the pitch you wouldn’t train on it,” said Hoban. “That’s being honest.
“Garth Brooks, whatever he did, I think they laid a new pitch after that and normally that pitch is like a carpet - you’re bouncing as you walk on it whereas there, the lads said even to fall on it, it’s hard as a rock - but there’s no grass on it so it’s disappointing, it is disappointing, yeah.
“I said it even before the game. It’ll probably on telly look like guys are fumbling and bad mistakes whereas, in fact, you’re rising it on tarmacadam, it’s in very, very, very poor condition.
“It’s the same for everyone. But it is unfortunately in poor nick for our premier pitch.”
Meanwhile, Dunloy manager Gregory O’Kane, a player in each of the club’s previous four All-Ireland club final defeats, expressed confidence that his young side can bounce back from this setback.
“A team like that is always learning,” he said. “Ryan McGarry at full-back, 22 years of age, outstanding on Colin Fennelly. The spine of the team is so young. Today in terms of the experience, living in games like that, it can only stand to them as a team.
“Every year is different. We will assess it all. The boys have put in a huge effort to this campaign. They will be sore, but we will go away. We are Dunloy, hurling is our life.
“It won't change a thing, we will still be ready to play hurling come the first league match. That is what we do.”
In the final analysis, the fact that their starting forward line managed just 1-4 from play will figure prominently, with the Ballyhale defence a tougher nut to crack than what they had been exposed to up to now.
“A few balls broke, normally we would latch on to them, and we would be gone out of the tackle,” O’Kane reflected. “We just couldn't break that line, to be fair to Ballyhale their half back line was superb too.
“They are the inches, the millimetres, when you add them all up in an All-Ireland final that is the difference at the end.”
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