Croke Park stadium manager Peter McKenna has conceded that the pitch surface in Croke Park was less than ideal for yesterday’s All-Ireland semi-final, but he insisted that it will be ready for Sunday’s All-Ireland hurling final between Kilkenny and Tipperary.
The weather affected the play of Kerry and Meath throughout yesterday’s clash, with both sides struggling to shine in the conditions.
‘In the first half certainly there was slipping that you wouldn’t be entirely happy with, particularly with the penalty,’ remarked McKenna in the Irish Examiner.
‘Some of that you come to expect with a squally, wet day. What you get with light rain like we had today, it sits on top of the grass. If the grass is lush like it is there, you will get a greasy interface. It’s something for us to look at, no doubt about it.
‘I talked to some of the players and any of the Kerry guys that were wearing six stud boots had no issues. Fellas wearing moulded boots or blade boots certainly did have issues. But we’d like to think that the surface wouldn’t be boot-dependant, so we’ve got some work to look at during the week.’
McKenna ruled out scarifying the pitch before Sunday’s final, but reckons that spiking the surface could be helpful.
‘I was down on the surface there with our pitch people. One suggestion is that the grass cover is too lush, that we could do with thinning it out somewhat. That’s not something we’re going to do between now and the finals obviously.
‘Ideally we’d look at scarifying it if we had more time, but I’m not inclined to do that, I think that could change the characteristics of the pitch. During the week, we did a lot of spiking on the surface. That breaks it up and gives it a little more traction for the studded foot. We’ll do a little bit more of that this week.’
McKenna insisted that laying down a new pitch during the middle of the championship had been a success overall.
‘No, the positives we’ve had from the pitch and the work we’ve done have been very, very strong. This is the first time we’ve had criticism.’
