Top 10 Stadiums in Ireland
Ireland's stadium landscape is shaped by three sports that share the country's biggest grounds: Gaelic football and hurling (GAA), rugby union, and association football. The largest venues — Croke Park, the Aviva Stadium, Páirc Uí Chaoimh — are GAA properties or shared internationals; the football-specific grounds tend to be more modest in capacity. The League of Ireland is on a growth trajectory but plays in stadia an order of magnitude smaller than the international venues. Every ground below is on the map.
1. Croke Park, Dublin
Capacity: 82,300. Headquarters of the Gaelic Athletic Association in Drumcondra, north Dublin, and the third-largest stadium in Europe. The Hogan Stand, Cusack Stand, and the legendary Hill 16 standing terrace at the north end have hosted the All-Ireland Football and Hurling Finals for over a century. The ground famously opened to rugby union and association football between 2007 and 2010 while the Lansdowne Road site was being rebuilt; the Ireland-England rugby fixture of February 2007, the first English national team to play at Croke Park since the venue's history with the 1920 Bloody Sunday, is one of the most discussed moments in modern Irish sport.
2. Aviva Stadium, Dublin
Capacity: 51,711. Built on the historic Lansdowne Road site and opened in 2010, the Aviva is shared by the Irish national football team and the Ireland rugby union team. The Populous-designed bowl is one of the most architecturally distinctive stadia in northern Europe, with its swooping curved roof reading as a single continuous form from any angle. The ground was a host venue for Euro 2020 (rescheduled to 2021).
3. Páirc Uí Chaoimh, Cork
Capacity: 45,000. The principal GAA venue in Cork, completely rebuilt and reopened in 2017. Páirc Uí Chaoimh (Field of Caoimh) hosts Cork county football and hurling matches, as well as Munster Senior Hurling Championship finals when held in Cork. The renovation produced a steeply raked bowl with excellent sightlines and modern facilities.
4. Semple Stadium, Thurles
Capacity: 45,690. The home of Tipperary GAA and the spiritual headquarters of hurling, located in Thurles, County Tipperary. Semple Stadium hosts the Munster Senior Hurling Championship's biggest fixtures and is widely considered the most atmospheric ground for hurling outside Croke Park.
5. Pearse Stadium, Galway
Capacity: 25,000. Galway GAA's principal venue in the Salthill area on the Atlantic coast. Pearse Stadium hosts Galway football and hurling fixtures and provincial Connacht Senior Football Championship matches.
6. Tallaght Stadium, Dublin
Capacity: 8,500 (after recent expansion). Home of Shamrock Rovers, the most successful club in League of Ireland history. The Tallaght ground in South Dublin is a purpose-built football venue with a modern stand configuration on three sides; a fourth-stand expansion completed in recent years has increased capacity. Shamrock Rovers' European nights regularly fill the ground.
7. Turner's Cross, Cork
Capacity: 7,365. Home of Cork City FC, the principal football ground in Cork and one of the oldest football-specific stadiums in Ireland. The compact rectangular bowl has hosted European qualifying fixtures and Munster derby matches.
8. Tolka Park, Dublin
Capacity: 9,680. The traditional home of Shelbourne FC in Drumcondra, north Dublin. Tolka Park has hosted League of Ireland fixtures for decades; its future has been periodically uncertain due to redevelopment proposals, but it remains a key venue for Shelbourne and the Irish women's national team.
9. Inchicore (Richmond Park), Dublin
Capacity: 5,340. St Patrick's Athletic's home in Inchicore, west Dublin. The tight, compact ground has been Saints' base since 1929. The atmosphere on European nights at Richmond Park is widely regarded as the best in League of Ireland football.
10. Páirc Uí Rinn, Cork
Capacity: 13,500. Cork's smaller GAA venue, used for county games not requiring Páirc Uí Chaoimh's larger capacity. Páirc Uí Rinn hosted Cork's senior matches during the 2014-2017 Páirc Uí Chaoimh redevelopment and remains active for second-tier county fixtures.
League of Ireland
The League of Ireland Premier Division is the top flight of Irish association football. The 10 clubs play a March-to-November calendar, with the season aligned to summer to maximise crowds in good weather. Shamrock Rovers are the most decorated club; Bohemians, Shelbourne, Dundalk, St Patrick's Athletic and Cork City are the most consistent challengers. League of Ireland clubs increasingly produce European group-stage qualification, with Shamrock Rovers reaching the Europa Conference League group stage three times in recent seasons.
GAA and the place of Croke Park in Irish sport
Gaelic football and hurling remain the most-watched sports in Ireland. The All-Ireland Football Final at Croke Park in September and the All-Ireland Hurling Final in July are national events on the scale of Cup finals in football-mad countries. The GAA's amateur structure — players are unpaid and play for their home county — creates an emotional connection between fan and team unmatched in professional sport. Croke Park, Páirc Uí Chaoimh and Semple Stadium are the sport's principal venues and shape much of Ireland's sporting calendar. All grounds are marked on the map.