Munster GAA chiefs do not expect the crowd at Sunday’s Cork-Tipperary Munster SHC game to exceed 30,000.
An attendance of 22,456 watched the corresponding fixture at Semple Stadium last year, a figure that Munster Council is most confident will be bettered this weekend.
A crowd somewhere in the region of between 25-30,000 is anticipated
“Given it is the first championship game for both, whereas last year Tipperary were coming into the Cork game off the back of an opening day defeat to Limerick, we will definitely exceed 22,000 at Páirc Uí Chaoimh, but how far north of 25,000 we go, we won’t know until the day,” said Ed Donnelly of Munster GAA.
A lot of it depends on the day. If the weather is fine, you could get a very good walk-up crowd.
"Anywhere between 25,000 and 30,000 is a very healthy crowd for a game that isn’t straight knockout.”
Since reopening its doors in July of 2017, only two of the five senior hurling championship games played at the 45,000 capacity Páirc Uí Chaoimh has attracted a crowd in excess of 30,000.
There was the 2017 All-Ireland quarter-final between Wexford and Waterford (31,753) and last year’s Munster SHC Cork versus Limerick round-robin game (34,607).
Cork’s 2018 Munster hurling championship opener at home to Clare was watched by 24,490 patrons.
