Offaly to receive surplus All-Ireland U20 final tickets after Tipp demand fails to meet allocation

A Young Offaly fan celebrates after the Leinster final win. Pic: James Lawlor, Inpho

Offaly’s All-Ireland U20 hurling final ticket concerns have been eased with surplus tickets from Tipperary moving across the border.

The Offaly Express is reporting that ticket demand in Tipperary has not met the 5,000 allocation the county board drew down for their clubs, and so some of the returned tickets are being made available to Offaly clubs.

Each Offaly club will be offered in the region of 30 tickets for Saturday’s All-Ireland final at UPMC Nowlan Park.

Capacity at the Kilkenny venue is set for 26,000, with 20,214 having attended the All-Ireland minor final between the two counties in July 2022.

There was widespread vexation among Offaly supporters when it emerged on Monday that the county board had not done as Tipperary had and availed of an exclusive allocation of tickets for distribution through the clubs.

Offaly county board chairman Michael Duignan apologised for such on Tuesday.

“Tipperary took numbers for their clubs, the advice we got was not to do it. I don't know in hindsight if that was a good or a bad call. Should we have taken an allocation for our clubs? Maybe we should have, I am not sure,” Duignan told the Offaly Express.

“The advice we got was that tickets to clubs would be all over the place and it would be better for people to buy online themselves. Offaly wrote to clubs and told them this on Friday. There was no comeback about it.”