The GAA has emphatically denied that the crowd difficulties at Sunday's International Rules finale at Croke Park presented a danger to the public.

A crowd of 57,289 showed up at the stadium, eclipsing the previous record of 38,000, and a significant number of those missed the entire first half. A national newspaper report contended that the combination of late arrivals and unmanned turnstiles led to a chaotic situation at the Hill 16 end of the ground, creating the potential for a dangerous crowd squeeze.

"There was a delay due to the large number of people arriving late but there was no chaos and there was no danger to anybody at any time," the GAA statement, released yesterday afternoon, said in direct response to the newspaper article.

The GAA were hopeful that around 40,000 people would show up for the game, and the statement claimed it was impossible to foresee that supporters would turn out in such great numbers.

"Following an examination of what occurred, the GAA has stated that the attendance at yesterday's game was significantly greater than what could have been anticipated. Close to 60,000 people attended the game by comparison with a previous record for this series of just in excess of 38,000 on October 8th," continued the statement.

"A large number of supporters, as many as 30,000, attended the game very late, in the last 10 minutes before the start and indeed after the game had started.

"A significant number had no tickets. Most of those presented themselves at Hill 16. A delay in gaining admission then occurred but many of these people, in consultation with the Gardai, were re-directed via the front of Hill 16 to spare capacity at the Hogan end."

The number of people taking their seats after the game had begun was striking and it was after half-time before seating arrangements appeared to have been fully resolved.

The GAA, however, dismissed yesterday's claim of crowd mismanagement as "inaccurate and greatly exaggerated."

"Having accommodated over one million people in Croke Park this year and for many years, the GAA's record in crowd management is without parallel in this country and it stands on its record," the statement said. "For the record all stiles were open and managed. Fourteen stiles were in operation on Hill 16 alone and not six as erroneously reported."

Meanwhile, the fall-out over the organisational difficulties that faced the Irish management throughout the series will continue. Fixtures congestion, which snowballed from the drawn All-Ireland final, saw the home panel deteriorate because of conflicting commitments and injury. Irish manager Brian McEniff revealed on Sunday evening that the first time he had seen a full squad was in the dressing-room prior to the Test. With players forced to juggle training commitments with those of work, the Irish squad's approach was "amateur" in comparison to that of their opponents.

The impossibility of the task presented to the Irish management has convinced many that the Irish ought to be allowed an unbroken period to prepare when the series returns to Croke Park.