Cusack Park 'chaos' claims denied

Westmeath GAA officials have denied claims of crowd chaos in Cusack Park, Mullingar at the start of their All-Ireland SFC qualifier against Meath on Saturday night.

County secretary Pat Lynagh last night insisted that internet claims of 'chaotic scenes' were untrue after a gate was forced open to allow fans free entry into the ground.

Speaking to the Irish Examiner, Lynagh said: 'What happened was that because it was a bad evening there was a major rush for the turnstiles just before the game threw in.

'We made a decision to open one of the gates and we left in about 150 people in a two-minute period. Claims that we left 500 people for free are untrue.

'That was it, there was no other issues, there was no other problems, everyone got in safely and that was the most important thing.'

He also dismissed reports that the stand was overcrowded.

He continued: 'There were tickets for sale during the week for the stand but these did not sell out. What we did then was operated a cash and ticket system. We knew how many tickets were sold so we knew how many people we could allow in. That all ran smoothly and the stand was full before the start of the match.

'Again there was no major issue. Everything was dealt with professionally by ourselves the Board and by the gardaí.'

In normal circumstances, a decision to delay the match by 15 minutes could have been taken, but due to fading light and the possibility of extra-time, officials had little option but to start the game on time.