According to stadium director Peter McKenna, Croke Park "will take a knock" but will still be fine to host the August 31st All-Ireland SFC semi-final.

The winners of tomorrow's quarter-finals at Croker - Dublin V Monaghan and Donegal V Armagh - will return to Headquarters on the last day of the month to do battle for a place in the 2014 All-Ireland final.

The semi-final will be staged just 24 hours after Penn State and University of Central Florida collide in the Croke Park Classic. McKenna insists the pitch will remain in good condition after the American Football extravaganza:

"Croke Park is a natural surface pitch. We don't have any artificial fibre in there and the players will use cleats rather than studs," he told The Irish Independent.

"At the moment we probably have about 95% coverage which means the grass is as good as we've seen it. The pitch is going to take a knock, but it won't be an unrecoverable hammering." Tweet

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