Former GAA president Nickey Brennan says Kilkenny GAA would not have been able to transform Nowlan Park into one of the top county grounds in the country if they had a senior football team.

Brennan, who has managed both the Kilkenny hurling and football teams in the past, notes in an interview with the Irish Sun on Sunday how the Cats are saving over €100,000 a year by not fielding a senior football team. He was speaking before Kilkenny's record 71-point defeat to Wexford in yesterday's Leinster MFC opener.

"We do not have to worry about putting money into football. Take Waterford, who are close to the lowest bracket in football, their board would have up to €120,000 spent on the senior footballers every year," he says.

"We do not have to come up with that money and it helps concentrate efforts around Nowlan Park.

"That has been a piecemeal development but has been well-planned too, putting us in a position that we can get games outside Croker because of extra seating. It's down to astute management. If you look at the Kilkenny accounts, we always made a profit but the board cut their cloth to suit.

"We are lucky we have the same astuteness on and off the [hurling] field."

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