Last Sunday saw another great clash of the ash in Croke Park, with Kilkenny seeing off neighbours Waterford for the seventh time in nine senior Championship meetings. The long wait for the All-Ireland Hurling title continues, as a 52-year wait now goes into its 53rd year.
Waterford fans remain among the most optimistic in the country, but the pre-match odds of 8/1 demonstrated how tough a task faced the team managed by Davy Fitzgerald.
The crowd of 31,000 was not particularly high for an All-Ireland semi-final and meant that Croke Park didn’t even reach its matchday breakeven attendance of 32,000.
Surely there’s an argument to be made that more may have attended had the game been staged in Semple Stadium, Thurles.
Given the economic downturn and given that more often than not in recent years three of the four semi-finalists have come from the south east, one of these fixtures should be played in Thurles.
