Croke Park stadium director Peter McKenna has defended the state of the pitch when it rains.

Former Dublin star Alan Brogan was among those to criticise the surface after players struggled to keep their footing during last Sunday's drawn All-Ireland football final.

But speaking to RTE, McKenna stated: "I don't think it's an issue. We regularly measure the moisture, hardness and traction of the pitch using specific devices to do so, so we can have comparisons game-on-game, month-on-month, year-on-year.

"We make sure that these readings are within set tolerances. We aren't standing outside, sticking our finger in the air and saying 'it'll be grand'; this is methodically looked at.

"We often hear people saying that the grass was too long or two short for a certain game, but the grass has been the exact same length on match-day for the past three years.

"We have a big game there on Sunday in the All-Ireland ladies final and the pitch will be in tip-top shape."

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