Pairc Ui Chaoimh stadium director Bob Ryan says growth lights will be used to nurture the pitch at Cork GAA's new-look HQ.

The dry and sandy surface at the Ballintemple venue, which has been revamped to the tune of €86m, wasn't fit for purpose for Sunday's national league double header and Ryan says action is being taken to address the situation:

"The level of growth has been very poor and we had a double bill on January 27th after the wettest January for years," he told The Irish Independent.

"It's just impossible really to get recovery. We have an issue with shading from the new stand which will be addressed in the autumn / winter of next year. It's too late now. We have no doubt though that the pitch will be back in full nick in four to five weeks once it gets a bit of growth.

"If the pitch was established, if it got a season to establish you could keep it right with the growth lights. We were disappointed with it. The problem with it was it dried up all through the week. The sand that has been down there for six weeks, it then came up."

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