Glory within reach for Mayo and Donegal

Thieves stole mobiles phones, credit cards, and hundreds of euro in cash from Cork City footballers this week, but left behind the most precious commodity of all — Donegal man Johnny Dunleavy’s All-Ireland final ticket.

Midfielder Dunleavy had his precious ticket for tomorrow’s 82,000 sellout robbed while the Airtricity League side were training in Bishopstown on Thursday.

With one Croke Park ticket going for over €7,000 online, Dunleavy said that yesterday’s trip to Dublin to play Bohemians was one of the worst of his life — until he got a call to say his wallet had been found, with the All-Ireland ticket still in place.

“I’m absolutely buzzing to get it back,” said the 21-year-old, whose father Brendan played for Donegal for 14 years and managed the county U21s.

“Last night I was angry and a bit low for a while. To find out the ticket that was gone has been found is brilliant. It was a nightmare but thankfully the club secretary Éanna Buckley rang to tell me they’d found it so I’ll be going to the match now.”

A number of mobile phones, a sum of cash, and credit cards were also taken from the changing rooms while the squad were on the pitch training.

“We’ve had a bit of a robbery but it’s not something we want to make a big deal of,” said club CEO, Tim Murphy.

“The gardaí were onto it immediately and are continuing to deal with it. There were a number of things taken but the only thing valuable was the All-Ireland ticket belonging to John Dunleavy.

“Other than that, there was nothing huge taken.

“There was a few bob and a few mobile phones, but that’s about it.”

Bishopstown gardaí are investigating the incident, with the club confirming it will be heightening security at the training ground in the wake of the incident.

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Glory within reach for Mayo and Donegal