Dr McKenna Cup draws impressive crowd numbers on opening night

Over 14,000 spectators attended Wednesday night’s pre-league GAA competitions – with almost 9,000 of that number flocking to Dr McKenna Cup matches.

There were 10 senior football matches on Wednesday – five O’Byrne Cup, three Dr McKenna Cup and two McGrath Cup – marking the first series of competitive intercounty football matches since last July’s All-Ireland final. In total, 14,187 paid in for an early season fix of intercounty action.

[ I appear to be attending Dublin v Wicklow in Baltinglass ... I’m really not sure why ]

But while enthusiasm for some matches was evidently lukewarm, Ulster’s Dr McKenna Cup again proved to be a significant draw on what was the first Wednesday in January because 8,991 spectators were in attendance across their three games – Armagh v Antrim, Tyrone v Fermanagh and Monaghan v Down.

The biggest attendance of the night was at the Athletic Grounds where 4,510 patrons watched Kieran McGeeney’s Armagh beat Antrim.

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A crowd of 2,194 turned up in Castleblaney to watch Vinny Corey’s first game as Monaghan manager, while 2,287 looked on as Tyrone beat Fermanagh in Omagh.

The most sparsely populated game of the night was Louth’s O’Byrne Cup clash against Dessie Dolan’s Westmeath, with only 262 managing to find Darver, presumably many others got lost and are still aimlessly wandering around mid-Louth at this very moment.

Dublin’s trip to Wicklow was the best attended of the O’Byrne Cup games, with 1,000 given as the official attendance at Baltinglass.

It should be noted there are different pricing structures between the provinces. For individual tickets, it is €10 for adults in Leinster and Munster, with under-16s having free entry. Under-16s are not counted in the attendance figures by the Leinster Council, while Munster estimate under-16s account for 33 per cent of tickets sold and add accordingly – i.e. for 1,000 paying adults the attendance would be 1,333.

Ulster charge €12/£10 for an adult ticket and €3/£3 for an under-16 ticket. All are included in their figures.

Some of the counties in action on Wednesday night had not played a competitive match in seven months. Meath, Louth and Monaghan were all eliminated from the 2022 championship on June 4th, while Tyrone’s campaign ended on June 5th.

[ GAA wrap: Cork hammer understrength Kerry to kick off 2023 ]

Wexford, Waterford, Longford, Antrim, Down, Wicklow and Laois had been on ice for even longer, having been eliminated during the early rounds of the inaugural Tailteann Cup.

Of those, the teams who were in hibernation longest were Wexford and Waterford – who until this week had not played a competitive game since the weekend of May 21st/22nd.

The momentum from Armagh’s positive 2022 campaign has clearly been maintained during the intercounty offseason because most of the 4,510 strong crowd at the Athletic Grounds were supporting the Orchard County. Armagh’s last outing was their epic All-Ireland quarter-final defeat to Galway last June.

The McGrath Cup clash of Cork and Kerry attracted 2,133 to Páirc Uí Rinn. Given Kerry were not at full strength, coupled with the apathy often shown towards the Cork footballers on Leeside, it wasn’t a bad turnout.

In just over a fortnight, the Wexford hurlers are likely to play Kilkenny in a sold-out Walsh Cup clash at Wexford Park. The January 21st game to mark the official switching on of the ground’s new floodlights was confirmed as a 10,000 full house over the Christmas period. However, Wexford have now got the green light to accommodate a further 2,000 by opening the Clonard Terrace. Tickets will go on sale on Friday morning at 11am, priced €8 for adults and €2 for children.

Wednesday Night Attendances

Dr McKenna Cup

Armagh v Antrim in the Athletic Grounds (4,510)

Tyrone v Fermanagh in Healy Park (2,287)

Monaghan v Down in Castleblaney (2,194)

O’Byrne Cup (*u16s free entry and not counted)

Wicklow v Dublin in Baltinglass (1,000)

Carlow v Meath at Netwatch Cullen Park (476)

Wexford v Kildare in Enniscorthy (430)

Laois v Longford in Portarlington (367)

Louth v Westmeath in Darver (262)

McGrath CUP (*u16s free entry, but estimated as 33% of tickets sold and added accordingly)

Cork v Kerry in Páirc Uí Rinn (2,133)

Limerick v Waterford in Rathkeale (528)