Cavan head list of best-attended club football finals
CAVAN can lay claim to the bestattended county senior football final in 2018, eclipsing heavyweight counties like Mayo and Tyrone.
The 8,469 who watched Castlerahan land their first Cavan title last week in Kingspan Breffni Park clearly caught the imagination and was slightly ahead of Mayo’s 8,311 in MacHale Park on the previous Saturday night. At a time when the county team is not making an impression at inter-county championship level, Cavan featured at top of a list of those attendances that are available.
Castlerahan had lost the last three Cavan finals and were facing neighbours Crosserlough who were seeking a first title themselves since
1972.
Mayo finals are traditionally well attended and with the intermediate final on as a curtain-raiser the meeting of Ballintubber and Breaffy drew 8,311.
The enduring popularity of the Cork hurling final saw 10,214 in Páirc Uí Chaoimh as Imokilly defeated Midleton. Henry Shefflin’s first Kilkenny hurling success with Ballyhale as manager, overcoming Bennettsbridge in last Sunday’s Nowlan Park final, drew a slightly smaller crowd, 9,145.
County final crowds can be dependent on a range of factors, chiefly the competing clubs and whether there is any novelty attached to them.
Dingle were seeking a first Kerry title for 70 years and brought a sizeable crowd to Tralee on Sunday but with Dr Crokes winning a seventh Kerry title in the decade, the crowd climbed just slightly over 6,000.
Limerick’s hurling final was played on Saturday night and televised live, two factors that many felt would lead to smaller numbers but in a year when the county won an All-Ireland hurling title for the first time since 1973 Na Piarsaigh’s familiarity was no barrier as 7,528 turned up.
Armagh also had an intermediate football final before their senior final and that helped to swell the crowd to 7,132 as Crossmaglen returned to winning ways against Ballymacnab.
No attendance was announced at the Dublin football final on Monday but chairman Seán Shanley estimated a crowd of around 7,000 in Parnell Park for Kilmacud and St Jude’s.