The Leinster senior football championship semi-finals will not be played at Croke Park this year.
It is the first time in 30 years that neither of the semi-finals will take place at GAA headquarters. In recent seasons the games have been fixed as part of a Croke Park double-header.
The decision to move the semi-finals out of Croke Park was announced at the launch of the 2025 Leinster SFC at Cedral St Conleth’s Park in Newbridge on Monday.
“The logic behind it was that we were playing our games in Croke Park with half, quarter of an empty stadium, the atmosphere wasn’t there,” said Leinster GAA chairman Derek Kent.
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“Our counties weren’t travelling. Really at the end of the day we can go out to provincial grounds which are all up standard. The point I’m making is that going out there is a win-win for everybody, it’s a win-win for supporters, it’s a win-win for the county boards.”
“We haven’t been filling Croke Park like we thought we would over the last number of years and I will also say it will give a better experience of the Leinster football championship.”
The 1995 semi-finals remain the last time both last four clashes were fixed for outside of Croke Park – with Meath playing Wicklow in Portlaoise and Dublin facing Laois in Navan.
Dublin’s continuing dominance of the Leinster SFC has seriously dented the appeal of the competition – the Dubs are this summer aiming to win a 15th consecutive Delaney Cup. Dublin have won 19 of the last 20 titles.
Last year’s Leinster semi-final double-header at Croke Park – Kildare v Louth and Dublin v Offaly – attracted a crowd of just 21,957.
Kent denied the move was also an effort to level the playing field in terms of taking Dublin out of the capital.
“That wasn’t in the back of our mind. To be fair to Dublin, Dublin will travel anywhere. They’re a county that has no issue travelling anywhere,” he added.
“It’s not about levelling the playing field, it’s about going out and giving the supporters better value, an atmosphere that will suit a semi-final. And also a provincial ground will get some rebate back on what they’ve spent.”
A decision on the exact semi-final venues will only be made after the pairings are known but the matches are likely to be held as stand-alone fixtures.
“Of course, there’s a list [of possible grounds] but it’ll all depend on who is in the semi-finals,” continued Kent.
“We also have to look at the other side of it, we also have the sport of hurling, we have hurling games fixed for some of the venues already, whether that be the Joe McDonagh or the Leinster championship. So it’s not just as easy to pick a ground.
“The other point I’d make is that when we put them in Croke Park, we knew we had Croke Park available so it was easy to fix them. But now we have a bit of work to do.”
Meanwhile, ticket prices for the opening round of games in this year’s Leinster SFC have been reduced from €25 to €15.
“The reason for that is many of our teams could be out three or four weeks in a row. We have to ease the pressure on our supporters.”
The 2025 Leinster SFC begins this weekend:
Saturday: Wexford v Laois, Wexford Park, 6pm
Sunday: Meath v Carlow, Páirc Tailteann, 3pm; Longford v Wicklow, Pearse Park, 3.30
