Vital Irish racing isn't overlooked again when other sports get crowd increases

It wasn't quite the usual marvellous mayhem of the Galway festival, but anyone who has trekked through 16 months of racing without substantial paying spectators in Ireland would have felt a real lift in terms of atmosphere at Ballybrit.

We didn't manage to have the 5,000-strong crowd that organisers had hoped for – and hearing the roar from Goodwood's unrestricted grandstand on television was a reminder of what we're missing out on – but hosting 1,000 people was a tangible improvement on what we've been used to.

Despite that positive feeling of edging a step closer to normality, there was some frustration during the week as the government granted permission for 40,000 people to attend the All-Ireland hurling and Gaelic football finals on August 22 and 29 at Croke Park.