‘There’s no such thing as a bad seat in Croke Park on All-Ireland final day’

There are no lights visible at Donegal County Board offices from the laneway leading into MacCumhaill Park.

A training session is taking place on the back pitch and the car park is packed but the offices 50 feet away are in darkness.

An approach to the green door is greeted by a patrolling garda car slowing down. Only a small number know that upstairs in a small office off the boardroom, millions of euros worth of All-Ireland final tickets are being printed and processed for the clubs of the county. County secretary Aodh Mairtín O Fearraigh ushers me inside. The gardaí drive on. Up the dimly lit stairs and through the canteen and boardroom, one finds office administrator Noreen Doherty focused on inputting numbers on one computer while her nieces, Imelda Collum and Lynn McGowan, handle the tickets feeding off the two thermal printers, Noreen’s twin sister Mary Collum is on tea and coffee duty and has just returned with some chips to keep the workers focused.