Football

GAA denies change to ticket policy as Ulster fans set to miss out

Demand for tickets in Tyrone is at a level unseen since the 2008 All-Ireland final.
Demand for tickets in Tyrone is at a level unseen since the 2008 All-Ireland final. Demand for tickets in Tyrone is at a level unseen since the 2008 All-Ireland final.

THE GAA has denied they have made any change to their ticket selling policy as thousands of Ulster football fans face the prospect of missing Sunday’s All-Ireland semi-final bill at Croke Park.

The Jones’ Road venue is set to sell out ahead of the meeting of All-Ireland champions Dublin and Ulster kings Tyrone.

The All-Ireland minor semi-final between Derry and Dublin (2pm) and the inaugural under-17 final between Tyrone and Roscommon will precede it.

Video: Tyrone manager Mickey Harte on tickets being resold at inflated prices

Demand for tickets in Tyrone has been at a level unseen since the 2008 All-Ireland final, leaving the county board without enough to cover requests from clubs.

Red Hand officials estimate they will be “a couple of thousand” short of fulfilling the clubs’ needs.

Tyrone were given in the region of 12,000 tickets, while their season ticket holders – totalling just under 1,000 – are accommodated by the GAA on top of that figure.

Dublin, who have the most season ticket holders in the country at around 5,000, are believed to have been allocated around 30,000 tickets to distribute to clubs.

Minor semi-finalists Derry were given just over 1,500 tickets in total, which wasn’t close to satisfying demand within the county.

Under-17 finalists Roscommon have been allocated a small number of tickets, understood to be 1,000.

Even taking into account 10,000 premium seats, there is still a sizeable gap between the number of tickets allocated to the competing counties and the stadium’s 82,300 capacity.

The GAA declined to divulge the breakdown of allocations and Director of Communications Alan Milton denied that there has been any shift in policy regarding ticket sales.

However, The Irish News understands that more tickets have been made available this year for general sale, both online and through partnerships with grocery store chains Centra and SuperValu, which has reduced the number of tickets available to clubs through the traditional route.