“The weather was really against us,” he rued. “In the run-up, people were not prepared to buy tickets when the weather was bad and when it was bad on the day itself, that made things worse.

“It’s too early yet to say what we lost. There is still a possibility we could break even but the likelihood is we lost a small amount.

“We gave it a go, we had to give it a go and while we didn’t get great support, those people who did attend enjoyed it thoroughly.”

Cunningham didn’t hesitate in saying the county board would consider staging the event again next year.

“The feedback we got was brilliant and that came through on WLR FM. We would think about doing it again after learning a few lessons in this, our first year.

“We’re definitely prepared to have another go. There was excellent cooperation from the clubs who provided the stewards for the concerts.”

However, should the county board stage another festival, they will encourage clubs to sell tickets to their members. The appearance of Jedward on Sunday also was unfortunate timing, given they played at Tramore racecourse just four weeks previous.

The Rhythmfest in Dungarvan was seen as a major fundraising event for the Waterford senior panels with players actively promoting the concerts around the county.

Last October, secretary Timmy O’Keeffe delivered a startling message to clubs that they faced not being able to afford feeding county players after training sessions.

The county board revealed a deficit of €120,430 for 2011.

Meanwhile, Waterford football manager John Owens says the expenses hold-ups with his players has been resolved. “There’s no issue at the minute,” he said. “Everything has been sorted.”

It has been suggested players last week received expenses dating back three months.