GAA stars at back of queue when it comes to playing big venues

THE most surprising aspect to last weekend was that Rian O’Neill got to play his first game in Croke Park.

That it has taken so long for one of the game’s most gifted talents to road-test the GAA’s main stadium is all the more outrageous when, in effect, Dublin wannabes get a free run-out there every spring.

Okay, it did not faze O’Neill – it actually inspired him – but it underlined the advantage that has been gifted Dublin by allowing them to play their home League games at HQ, even though the atmosphere in a three-quarters-empty stadium is largely underwhelming.

It is all about the money, we will be told, and the promotional opportunity of getting more bums on seats, but last night Kerry chose to cut their profit by hosting Dublin in Austin Stack Park when they could have cashed in on a crowd in excess of 20,000 in Killarney.

But we would not have got the same atmosphere; one that could be replicated if Dublin played every one of their League games at a sold-out Parnell Park.

And if that happened the playing field would be levelled, while ensuring Croke Park’s status as a neutral venue would have a degree of credibility that it no longer does.

As if that was not enough, this week Cork announced they will play their Munster semi-final against Kerry at Páirc Uí Rinn – perfect for a League game but totally inadequate for championship – because Ed Sheeran’s concert takes priority.

We have now become an association so obsessed with building big houses that it seems those who can pay the most are more important than those who play the most.