Faith in pitch is growing

All doubts about the recently re-laid playing surface in Croke Park quickly evaporated on Sunday, with the four teams that tested it for the first time universal in their praise for the new, improved pitch.

Both the Armagh and Mayo players remarked on its superiority after their league semi-final, as were the Dublin and Kildare players after the Leinster under-21 football replay.

It was just over a month ago when the old surface, which had been criticised for being too hard and slippery, not just when wet, was completely removed for improvements and reseeding.

Yesterday Peter McKenna, the Croke Park stadium director, gave further background to the repair work, which he says will make for an even better pitch as the championship progresses.

"It wasn't just one, single thing we did," said McKenna. "There was a whole range of different things to be looked out. We took on board the various criticisms that were made, and then took various readings in terms of traction and hardness. They are actually at opposite ends of the spectrum, and to satisfy one you must affect the other. So we needed to find the midpoint balance.

"We collected as much data as we could, and then stripped off the surface. Normally, we would spike the ground to about six inches, but we used a much heavier machine this time, and spiked it to around 12 or 15 inches. And when we reseeded we used a new combination of seeds. We used the same leafy, foliage of last year, but added a bushier grass to that. And the combination of that gave a better traction, without impacting too much on the hardness."

The new grass mix is now particular to Croke Park, taking into account the climate and level of shade. The groundsmen also used blanket covers at night, to help retain daytime temperature, in their efforts to get the pitch ready in time for the league finals.

Meanwhile, both the All-Ireland Colleges football and hurling finals have been moved to Semple Stadium in Thurles, and will form a triple-header with the Allianz National Hurling League final next Monday, May 2nd.

The triple-header was deemed all the more feasible because of the crossover of interest between some of the competing teams.

Kilkenny and Clare contest the league final (4.30pm), and that clash is mirrored in the colleges hurling final, the Croke Cup, which features St Kieran's of Kilkenny and St Flannan's of Clare (3pm).

First up will be the colleges football final, the Hogan Cup, which features St Mary's of Galway and Knockbeg College from Carlow, and will throw-in at 1.15pm. All three games will be live on TG4.

TG4 will also have live coverage of both the NFL finals from Croke Park on Sunday, starting with Monaghan against Meath in Division Two at 2pm, and Armagh against Wexford in Division One at 3.45pm.

The two All-Ireland under-21 football semi-finals will be played on Saturday. The meeting of Galway and Cork (3.45pm) will be played as a double-bill at the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick with the women's NFL final (2pm), which features the same counties. The Dublin-Down semi-final will be played in Navan at 3.30pm.