Ballybofey reprieve may have implications for other counties

The Ulster Council’s decision to approve MacCumhaill Park in Ballybofey for the staging of Donegal’s provincial quarter-final against Tyrone – the opening game in the defence of their All-Ireland title – may have implications for other grounds looking to restore their capacities after the Slattery Report on health and safety.

It’s over a year now since the report, published in November 2011, recommended some substantial decreases in stadium capacities – a cumulative 27 per cent – after looking into the health and safety of 35 such county grounds, including MacCumhaill Park. The Donegal venue, formally approved to hold 21,385, had that figure reduced to just 12,250, and thus was deemed unsuitable to stage the meeting with Tyrone on May 26th, despite Donegal drawing home advantage.

Instead, it seemed the game was destined for Clones, with a capacity of around 34,000, a move not surprisingly favoured by Tyrone. However, some speedy improvements, costing some €120,000 and funded by both the Donegal county board and Croke Park, has now upgraded the grounds and with that increased the capacity back up to around 18,000.

Staging
What this also means is that Clones won't be staging any of the Ulster quarter-finals: Kingspan Breffni Park has been announced as the venue for the preliminary game between Cavan and Armagh; Ballybofey will host Donegal-Tyrone, Celtic Park will host Derry-Down, Casement Park will stage Antrim-Monaghan, while Brewster Park will be the venue for Fermanagh-Cavan, or the Athletic Grounds if the game pits Armagh against Fermanagh.

There were several necessary health and safety improvements at MacCumhaill Park, including the installation of extra turnstiles, remedial works to crush barriers, and extra fencing, all of which was completed over the last five weeks.

In the meantime several other county grounds are still looking to get their capacities restored to pre-Slattery Report levels. Connacht grounds were particularly badly hit, with Hyde Park in Roscommon faced with a potential drop of just under 15,000 from its current capacity of 33,612, while Páirc Seán Mac Diarmada in Leitrim was faced with a reduction to 9,331 from 15,000.

Other popular grounds at Tralee, Newbridge, Navan and Ennis are also still operating under reduced capacities, and yet the relatively swift upgrading at MacCumhaill Park – and the availability of funding to furnish it – may strengthen their cases for a similar upgrade.