Offaly expect to bring a crowd of over 10,000 for All-Ireland Quarter-Final against Cork
Ample tickets in circulation for big hurling game
OFFALY fans have become accustomed to a ticket panic as they followed the U20 hurlers in 2024 but there is no shortage for Sunday's All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship quarter-final against Cork in Thurles.
It looks like the attendance will be short of the 45,000 capacity and there were both stand and terrace tickets available on Ticketmaster on Friday morning.
There had been a brief sense of crisis when an initial 15,000 tickets were put up by Ticketmaster last week and were instantly snapped up. With people unable to get tickets, there was brief concern that they could be hard to get but these fears were alleviated when it was announced that thousands had been kept in reserve for the competing counties and clubs.
These were made available exclusively to them the following day and this immediately eased people's worries as most were looked after at this stage.
Offaly expect to bring a crowd of over 10,000 and with Cork likely to bring at least double this, the attendance should go to over 30,000. However, everyone that wants to go will be able to go and in fact, it looks like some people could find it hard to dispose of unwanted tickets they purchased.
There were plenty of posts on social media in recent days with people trying to get rid of tickets. One club, Clodiagh Gaels put up a message saying they had people trying to sell tickets and telling anyone looking for one to get in touch with them.
One big factor in the desire to get rid of tickets is it seems a significant number of young fans are travelling to Cork for the Zach Bryan concerts this Saturday or Sunday and won’t be going to the hurling because of this - even though they purchased hurling tickets.
Other clubs are certain to have members also trying to dispose of tickets and the underlying message about this game is: there are plenty of tickets in circulation.