The GAA has revealed that they held back 700 Hill 16 tickets for last Sunday's All-Ireland hurling final.

And they plan to reduce the capacity of Hill 16 again for Sunday week's All-Ireland football final between Down and Cork because of the presence of the new barrier at the terrace end. The attendance at the hurling final was 81,765, which was short of Croke Park's 82,300 capacity.

"We'll speak with our health and safety people on the matter, but it looks like it will be capped against with the reduction of the Hill 16," Croke Park stadium director Peter McKenna told the Irish Independent.

"It was felt that because of the way the crowd filled up on the Hill for the Cork/Dublin match, a reduction was best advised. Normally it fills form front to back, but for the football semi-final it filled from back to front."

McKenna said the decision wasn't taken because of any potential impairment of vision due to the barrier.

"The view is actually quite good, but naturally people will be inclined to try and see over it and that's where the capacity decision is taken in the interests of safety." Tweet

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