'PARTY of five' is the way to go if Monaghan and Tyrone supporters are to maximise the potential crowd for the Ulster Senior Football Final at Croke Park.
The largest allowable attendance at GAA headquarters on Saturday July 31 is currently set at 18,000 because of Covid-related health and safety restrictions but Ulster GAA officials expect an actual crowd of only up to four-fifths of that, perhaps 14,500 at most.
Thousands of tickets were left unsold for last Saturday evening's Leinster SHC decider between Kilkenny and Dublin, partly as a consequence of the selling arrangements in 'pods' of up to five.
Ulster GAA PRO Declan Woods explained that the same limitations are to apply at the end of this month: "The official maximum number available is 18,000. The caveat is that that is dependent on all tickets being bought in blocks of five and people then being seated in various groups of five around the ground.
"We all know that won't happen - some people will buy in twos or threes… so we ultimately feel we'll have around 14-, 14,500 people there, give or take…
"People might think afterwards, 'Gosh, that's a surprise that Ulster didn't sell out that', but it's pretty much impossible to sell all the tickets in these circumstances.
"The reality is that everyone in any group of five is supposed to be from the same 'bubble', that's how it is to work… If there are three threes sold in a row, that'll be only nine people in total there, as opposed to a potential 15, for example."
Some supporters who planned to attend the Leinster final chose not to do so due to cost factors, unhappy about the lack of cheaper concession tickets for children.
Given the financial pressures on the Association due to crowds being either absent or limited, Woods confirmed that there will only be full price tickets available for the meeting of Monaghan and Tyrone as well:
"That was talked about, some of our CCC [Competitions Control Committee] delegates mentioned the possibility of doing what we could to get children back to games - but there haven't been concessions to date due to the current regulations, and the expectation is that there won't be concessions at the moment."
Nor is there likely to be any access via Ticketmaster, as did happen before the Leinster SHC Finale, with all the available Ulster Final allowance set to be distributed through the two counties and their clubs, Woods believes:
"My thoughts would be that Tyrone and Monaghan will take up any tickets available to them…
"We know historic Ulster Final attendances, add in that we weren't able to let people attend the Ulster Final last year, and that these two counties haven't been in the final for several years - all that will create quite an appetite from supporters. They're two very well-supported counties anyway. I don't imagine many, if any, will go on general release."
The switch to Croke Park for the first time in 15 years was proposed and seconded by the two finalists, following the lead of the Connacht contenders, Galway and Mayo, who play there this weekend.
