Work has begun to replace the entire pitch at Croke Park following a run of concerts by American country star Garth Brooks earlier this month.
All of the old turf has been stripped away and the playing surface has been releveled in preparation for the new pitch to be laid down in the coming days.
In the past, the association used to import new turf from England, which was stored in refrigerated lorries, which caused issues with the quality of the final surface.
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Now, the turf is harvested from the GAA own farm in Naul, north Co Dublin and the time between harvesting the turf and laying down the new pitch is just three hours.
With the inter-county season completed, there won’t be another game in Croke Park for several months with the Leinster Club finals possibly the next games to be played at the famous venue.
Over 400,000 country music fans attended the Garth Brooks concerts, held over five nights in September at the Jones’ Road stadium.
Although the Brooks concerts didn’t affect any GAA games, there was controversy earlier this summer when two high profile Championship games were moved out of Páirc Uí Chaoimh to facilitate two Ed Sheeran gigs at the Cork City stadium.
Cork’s Munster SHC clash with Clare was moved to Thurles while the Rebels played rivals Kerry in Páirc Uí Rinn.
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