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17th Jul 2017

Jim Gavin not happy with the state of the Croke Park pitch after Coldplay gig

Not happy with the Croke Park pitch

Tony Cuddihy

Jim Gavin Coldplay

The Dublin manager questioned the timing of the massive Coldplay concert at GAA Headquarters.

Jim Gavin was not happy with a section of the Croke Park turf on Sunday despite seeing Dublin claim their seventh successive Leinster title against Kildare, and he’s blaming Coldplay.

Speaking to Newstalk after his side had secured a 2-23 to 1-17 win over the Lilywhites, Gavin said that the GAA will need to reflect on their decision to allow such a large-scale musical event to take place in such close proximity to one of the key dates in its sporting calendar.

“It wasn’t great now for both teams, and it’s probably something the GAA need to have a little reflection on,” Gavin said after the game.

“The groundsmen did an excellent job, an outstanding job actually, to turn it around so quick but going into a provincial final is that the right thing to do to be replacing that part of the pitch, probably a fifth of the pitch?

“I could see both sets of players slipping in that part. It was very hard, that’s one thing I’d say about it. It’s not a fault of the groundsmen – they were put in a situation to turn the pitch around – so it’s probably for the management of Croke Park to have a look at it.

“A provincial showcase football game in Leinster, is that the right thing to do?”

Dublin will next be in action on the weekend of 5/6 August in the All-Ireland SFC quarter-finals, where they will take on one Armagh, Down or Monaghan depending on which of those teams progress from the next round of the Championship.

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