Attendances at pre-season football competitions should continue to defy the time of year as the O'Byrne Cup gears up for four high-profile quarter-finals. Dublin enter the competition tomorrow night with a floodlight clash against UCD at the O'Toole club grounds in Coolock, with the winners meeting Wexford in Sunday's quarter-finals.
With Wexford now being managed by former Dublin midfielder Paul Bealin the attraction of that game is obvious should Dublin progress. Sunday's other quarter-finals see Kildare host Laois, Meath at home to Westmeath while Offaly travel to play Louth.
The opening round drew more than respectable attendances, with several thousand watching Kildare's win over Longford at Newbridge. A strong crowd also showed up for the debut of new Meath manager Eamonn Barry as his side beat DCU, with around 1,000 attending Westmeath's victory over Carlow.
According to Leinster Council secretary Michael Delaney such attendances have become the norm even at this time of the year. "I don't know if they were any higher than last year," he explained, "but there were definitely some good attendances across the games, with the exception of the Kilkenny and Offaly game. I suppose the public are dying to see some football again at this time of the year.
"We had some very big attendances last year but one of the reasons for that was the fact that we advertised the games as fundraisers for the tsunami disaster. But I'd say if Dublin come through against UCD this week then we'll have some very strong attendances again next Sunday, because with the likes of Laois, Kildare, Meath and Westmeath involved we are talking about the cream of the crop."
Although they don't advertise it, the Leinster Council themselves don't benefit from the gate receipts. Several years ago the O'Byrne Cup was designated as a Special Accident Tournament, with all funds generated from the games now directed into a player injury scheme.
The attendance of the day, however, was at the opening Dr McKenna Cup match between Tyrone and Down, where around 8,000 showed up at Omagh to watch the All-Ireland champions in their first competitive fixture since last September's triumph. Manager Mickey Harte fielded only four of his All-Ireland winners in Ryan McMenamin, Davy Harte, Seán Cavanagh and Owen Mulligan but that didn't stop them beating Down 2-12 to 0-11.
Dublin manager Paul Caffrey will also be forced to field an experimental team tomorrow night. Several of his players are involved with DCU, who now play in the O'Byrne Cup shield against Carlow, including goalkeeper Stephen Cluxton, Paul Casey, Bryan Cullen and Declan Lally.
Caffrey has already lost the services of Darren Homan and Dessie Farrell through retirement, while his long-term injury list includes Stephen O'Shaughnessy, Paddy Christie, and more recently, Colin Moran, who underwent a groin operation before Christmas and will be out of action for several months.
Forward Alan Brogan has returned to full training following an ankle operation but it remains to be seen if Caffrey will try him out in what is certain to be a largely experimental line-up. The game has an 8.0 start at Páirc Uí Tuathaill at Blunden Drive in Ayrfield.
Beaten All-Ireland finalists Kerry also end their winter hibernation this week when they play the University of Limerick in the McGrath Cup this Saturday, which has a 3.0 start in Moyvane. Should Kerry progress they are out again the following day against Waterford in Dungarvan.
