Noel Walsh is to ask GAA president Joe McDonagh to convene a meeting of the sub-committee on the Railway Cup. Walsh, chairman of the Football Development Committee and a former Munster Council chairman, is a long-standing advocate of the inter-provincial competition and was responding to the tiny 487 attendance which turned out for Sunday's hurling semi-final between Munster and Connacht.

The sub-committee was set up by McDonagh under the chairmanship of Cork's Frank Murphy, two years ago. "I will be writing to Joe to request that the work group get back together," said Walsh who described himself as a "fanatical proponent" of the competition.

Low attendances such as that in Thurles are not unusual by Railway Cup standards and for a number of years it has been primarily run as a players' competition, regardless of the public interest.

In recent years, attempts were made to revive the competition which during its heyday in the 1950s could draw crowds of between 40,000 and 50,000 to Croke Park. The football found a calendar niche at the end of January when matches had a clear run at media coverage and public attention. Unfortunately, weather conditions didn't always oblige and postponements led to fixture chaos.

The hurling winners were nominated to represent Ireland in the shinty internationals with Scotland, but in the case of the away fixtures, such as with Leinster last March, the victorious province was likely to treat the venture as a weekend away rather than an even semi-serious match.

"The worst thing about the official attitude to the Railway Cup," said Walsh, "is that it could be described as a benign apathy. If there was hostility we could fight it. Poor attendances have to be addressed. But they're not an indictment of the players or the people involved because Sunday was a wonderful exhibition of hurling.

"We're never going to get back to the days of Christy Ring and 50,000 at matches, but there's no question that 10,000 or 12,000 can be got out if the games are presented properly. I think it's the only competition which doesn't have a sponsor.

"Everything from camogie to Feile na nGael and Feile na nOg has a sponsor. Were the Bank of Ireland or Guinness taking the Railway Cup under their wing, I think they could turn it around. Look at the International Rules in Australia. Before you could hardly get 20,000 to the matches, but after proper promotion this year 65,000 were turning out."

Walsh believes that more imagination could be used in presenting the matches and argues that 5,000 juveniles could have been bused into Thurles for free at the weekend. "We spend thousands on coaching, but you could bring youngsters to see a marvellous hurling match; it would take a lot of coaching sessions to equal that."

He also supports the idea of bringing the finals abroad. "If we took the hurling final to Brussels or Paris, it would become more than a sporting exhibition, it would be a cultural event. The footballers could go to New York for the St Patrick's week celebrations, play the match and take part in the parade. The final could be broadcast on close-circuit to the Irish communities in America.

"I hope the uachtaran will call us in and tell us to get working."