GAELIC GAMES/Attendances: Croke Park stadium manager Peter McKenna has dismissed the sparse attendances over the weekend as mere blips on the Jones's Road radar as he confirmed attendances for 2005 are approaching record proportions.
Saturday's football qualifiers (36,066) and Sunday's football quarter-finals (34,301) were below half the ground's capacity, but McKenna supplied figures yesterday to show averages have increased from last year - although it quickly became apparent these numbers are heavily reliant on the presence of the Dublin footballers.
By the second weekend of August last year Dublin had played just twice at headquarters, with the early defeat to Westmeath attracting 60,102, while their return after a scenic qualifier route saw 63,369 attend the victory over Roscommon on August 1st.
Paul Caffrey's maturing team have boosted the numbers significantly this time with four appearances, two of which have broken the 80,000 mark, and are well on course for another full house this Saturday against Tyrone. The 16,000 tickets made available to the public were snapped up yesterday morning.
To date, 267,697 have attended the Dublin contests in Croke Park, while 24,000 more attended their Leinster final victory on July 17th than turned up for last year's meeting between Westmeath and Laois.
The average Croke Park turnout at this stage last year was 42,686 but it stands this year at 45,768 - and rising.
These figures also contradict the common perception that the ground needs a certain capacity every week to break even.
"There have been peaks and troughs but we had a strong Leinster series and the Ulster final twice. That is all positive," explained McKenna.
"The more games the better as it is fixed costs that must be covered, like the grounds people, utility bills, insurance and rates.
"Also, our ticket prices are good value when compared to events at other venues like soccer, rugby and even concerts."
The tickets available on the GAA website for next weekend's matches - the All-Ireland football quarter-final between Dublin and Tyrone and the hurling semi-final between Clare and Cork - are priced at €30 for the football and €40 for the hurling, with some juvenile tickets available for the hurling at €5.
Concerning the poor showing over the weekend, McKenna pointed to the dual run, in hurling and football, of Cork and Galway.
Also, the absence of a surprise package like Fermanagh or Sligo, two recent examples, means the bulk support from more traditional counties is yet to gain momentum.
For example, Kerry folk do not traditionally travel until the All-Ireland final.
"It is very expensive to follow a team on a dual mandate like Cork and Galway," said McKenna.
"The numbers are better than last year and by adding in the three U2 concerts (82,300 each night) we have record numbers in Croke Park since the club finals on March 17th. The recent drop in attendances doesn't worry us financially."
The Ulster final was almost 7,000 down on last year but the Ulster Council were criticised for bringing the replay back to Dublin on a Saturday when the 30,952 present would not have filled St Tiernach's Park, Clones.
Armagh's first ever league title win, back on May 1st, set a good benchmark for the season by drawing 46,445, with Meath and Monaghan in the Division Two final as undercard.
Numbers at Leinster hurling matches have taken a significant dip, the semi-finals and finals attracting 15,000 fewer this year, though over 100,000 came through the gates for the recent quarter-finals.
The biggest turnout so far was for the Leinster football semi-final double header, when 82,072 witnessed Dublin beat Wexford and Laois overcome Kildare on June 19th. The worst was for the Ulster replay, which was even outdone by the league semi-finals back in April.
When the three U2 concerts are included, the numbers at events in Croke Park will break the million mark this Saturday.
So things are on the up, but the importance of Dublin's continued participation in the championship cannot be denied.
