GAA:AFTER ALL the fuss of U2's three sell-out concerts in Croke Park, which briefly threatened the re-laying of the stadium turf in time for this weekend's All-Ireland football quarter-finals, the stage is set for the first sell-out match of the summer; Dublin v Kerry, live, for one afternoon only.

In the end, the intervention of GAA president Christy Cooney and director general Páraic Duffy helped persuade the residents of the area to call off the protests planned for yesterday afternoon, which could have had disastrous effects on the chances of the stadium’s ground staff re-laying the turf in time for Sunday’s double-header, and Monday’s Dublin-Kerry clash.

Instead work is under way as scheduled and, barring any unforeseen hiccups, the pitch will be back to normal by Saturday.

The GAA’s intervention came against the backdrop of quite frantic ticket sales for the Dublin-Kerry game, which is already a virtual sell-out – and therefore the first sporting full house in Croke Park of the summer.

Sunday’s double-bill, which starts with Cork against Donegal, and is followed by Tyrone against Kildare, hasn’t yet attracted the same interest, and the GAA have yet to decide whether to open the Hill 16 terrace on that day.

Crucially, as far as all three fixtures are concerned, the protests planned by the residents were called off yesterday afternoon, after which the GAA released a statement confirming both Cooney and Duffy had met the residents to hear their concerns in relation to the recent U2 concerts.

“We thank the local community for their understanding and co-operation in assisting our efforts to bring about a resolution and we apologise for any inconvenience caused to residents in the last 48 hours,” said Cooney.

“We have listened carefully to their views and we are committed to a process of dialogue which will be consultative in its nature in an effort to achieving the best possible outcome for all concerned in the running of the major events at Croke Park.

“We are committed to moving forward in a positive way to address their concerns. I am now looking forward to the prospect of exciting games at the weekend with the quarter-finals of the football championship.”

The residents had been angered that the works were taking place continuously over 44 hours to both dismantle the stage and lay the new pitch in the process of readying the stadium for the weekend. However, by yesterday evening, over half of the plastic covering on the pitch surface had already been removed, and the process of laying the specially harvested turf, which had been cut from a farm in Scunthorpe, and has been in refrigeration for the past several days, had begun.

By Friday, it is anticipated that the pitch will be marked, and the goalposts erected, and following that a series of tests will take place to ensure proper bounce and traction. Dublin corner back Paddy Andrews, who works in Croke Park, is among the small group of players invited to take part in those tests.

It’s taken the typical hype surrounding Dublin v Kerry to produce the first sell-out of the summer. Dublin’s three championship appearances in Croke Park so far this summer have drawn impressive and yet relatively disappointing crowds, starting with the 75,250 that showed up for the Meath game, then the 51,458 for the Westmeath, and most recently the 74,572 that attended the Leinster final with Kildare.

There were in fact reports earlier yesterday that Croke Park’s telephone ticket lines had crashed such was the demand but, according to GAA ticketing manager Ronan Murphy, this was merely a case of the ticket office operating at its maximum.

“Only so many people can get through at the one time,” he explained, “in that there are only so many phones we can pick up at the one go. So it was purely down to traffic. And the phones were very, very busy. This happens on the first day of sales for pretty much every Dublin game. Everyone rings at once, and you can only answer so many calls.

“But there was no crash. If people couldn’t get through on the phone it was because we were so busy. Every phone we have is manned, with two lines on each line, so you can hear the next call coming in, to move it as quickly as possible. It only happens two or three times a year. We’re not a call centre, and still the best way to get your tickets is through your club. The season ticket-holders are also looked after, and we did see quite a few in advance in the ticket packages that we launched earlier in the month.”

There were eight people on phone duty yesterday, and demand for on-line sales was just as high: “Tickets were on sale on-line all day,” added Murphy, “and we sold out those by the end of the day. We sold 3,500 in an hour. We’ll monitor the situation now and see if anything comes back from the competing counties, and . . . we will put them on public sale. But it’s definitely going the way of a sell-out.”

Tickets for the Hill 16 terrace for Sunday’s double-bill weren’t available as of yesterday evening but terrace tickets are likely to be made available later in the week.