THE overflow of Cliftonville fans at the abandoned County Antrim Shield Final gained entrance to Windsor Park with forged tickets, it was claimed last night.
Around 80 counterfeit tickets were sold on the night of the infamous final earlier this month, according to a Cliftonville spokesman who asked not be named.
Due to the incidents which occurred at the first final in which two bottles were thrown onto the pitch from the North Stand, where Cliftonville fans were located, the RUC and tonight’s finalists Cliftonville and Ballymena, restricted fans to 1000 tickets each.
There was a huge demand for tickets at Cliftonville. “There were 2080 people in the Cliftonville end in the first final, that’s 80 over the limit,” said the Reds spokesman.
“There were duplicated tickets at the first final and that’s how people got in who were not real Cliftonville fans.
“But steps have been taken to ensure tickets for this final cannot be copied and the club is asking only those with tickets to turn up.
“A lot of fans are disappointed that we only have 1000 tickets but these have all been sold so we are asking fans to be aware of forged tickets being sold before the final. If tickets have not been bought from the club or an official supporter’s club, then they are not authentic.”
Tonight Cliftonville and Ballymena will finish the game they started three weeks ago at Windsor Park. Part two of the final of the Calor County Antrim shield, which was abandoned by referee Alan Snoddy when two missiles were thrown onto the pitch, resumes this evening (7.30).
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JOE KERNAN revealed last night that he will be urging his players to steer clear of videos of Crossmaglen’s AllIreland club final opponents Knockmore.
The burly Crossmaglen supremo will insist that only the Rangers’ management view tapes of the Mayo champions’ march to the AIB decider on St Patrick’s Day.
“That’s our policy. Our players will be asked not to bother with videos of Knockmore. The management will be the ones who take a look at Knockmore tapes. Things that we notice and pick up on will then be mentioned to the players.”
Knockmore’s 3-14 to 0-5 demolition job on perennial contenders Eire Og impressed Kernan. “I watched the game on TV in the evening and obviously Knockmore looked very good. But to be honest, I know very little about Knockmore. Needless to say however, we will learn plenty about them over the next couple of weeks.”
Kernan is already fully aware of the talents of current and former Mayo stars Ray Dempsey, Peter Butler, Kevin O’Neill, Kevin Staunton and Padraig Brogan.
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Antrim football selectors Raymond Graffin and Peter McCann may have a welcome headache for the county’s final National League Division Three game this weekend.
Many players who have been out of county action for some time, have been invited to attend tonight’s scheduled meeting in Belfast, which will go ahead despite the resignation of manager John Morrison last week.
In all, nine St Paul’s players have been asked to attend and Lamh Dhearg stars Mickey Boyle and Frank Wilson, as well as former Lamh Dhearg man Anton Finnegan, who is now with St Paul’s.
St Paul’s players Paul McErlean, Chris Murphy, John McManus, Sean McGreevy, Joe Kennedy, Anton Finnegan, Peter McStravick, Joe Quinn and Aidan Donnelly are all expected to attend the meeting (Balmoral Hotel, 7.30pm).
The current county champions have not had their usual plethora of players in the county squad for some time. Several were eliminated when county training was scheduled for Saturday afternoons, ruling out Irish League soccer players Mickey Boyle, Frank Wilson, Anton Finnegan, Sean McGreevy and Pat O’Connor (St Gall’s).
