Cork-Limerick All-Ireland semi-final heading for Croke Park sell out

Gearóid Hegarty in action against Mark Coleman during the Munster GAA Hurling Senior Championship

Sunday’s All-Ireland SHC semi-final between Cork and Limerick is heading towards a 82,300 Croke Park sell-out.

Demand for tickets in both counties have been considerable and there is currently no tickets on sale via the GAA’s official tickets portal.

As Cork aim to pull off a second consecutive championship win over Limerick who are striving to take one more step towards an unprecedented fifth consecutive All-Ireland title, officials in Cork and Limerick have likened the appeal for the game to that of an All-Ireland final.

Since 2018, All-Ireland semi-finals have been played in Croke Park over the same weekend and in that period the best attended last-four game was the previous Cork-Limerick meeting six years ago when 71,073 were in GAA HQ for an epic extra-time clash.

In 2017, Cork and Waterford’s clash attracted 72,022 while the record for a senior hurling semi-final in this century was the 80,546 crowd that took in the Limerick-Waterford game in 2007.

The attendance for the Clare-Kilkenny game might be negatively impacted by the mid-afternoon Saturday throw-in time (3pm) having recorded a 39,626 crowd when they met in the Saturday semi-final two years ago, which had a 5.30pm start.

Meanwhile, Barry Nash is Limerick’s biggest concern going into Sunday having injured a hamstring in training. The 27-year-old defender is not expected to be fit to line out with Seán Finn in line to return to the team.

Seamus Flanagan is also in the mix for a starting place having missed the Munster final with a hamstring injury in the provincial final round win over Waterford in TUS Gaelic Grounds in May. Flanagan scored 3-3 against Cork in SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh and his tally in last year’s meeting was 1-3.

All-Ireland semi-final attendances in normal years (2010-present): 

2023 Limerick v Galway 59,739, Kilkenny v Clare 48,360

2022 Limerick v Galway 52,215, Kilkenny v Clare 39,626

2019 Kilkenny v Limerick 55,001, Tipperary v Wexford 61,852

2018 Galway v Clare 54,191, Limerick v Cork 71,073

2017 Galway v Tipperary 68,184, Cork v Waterford 72,022

2016 Kilkenny v Waterford (drawn game) 34,432, Tipperary v Galway 54,227

2015 Kilkenny v Waterford 41,112, Galway v Tipperary 58,495

2014 Kilkenny v Limerick 45,478, Tipperary v Cork 68,728

2013 Cork v Dublin 62,092, Clare v Limerick 62,962

2012 Galway v Cork 41,537, Kilkenny v Tipperary 50,220

2011 Kilkenny v Waterford 31,634, Tipperary v Dublin 43,562

2010 Kilkenny v Cork 41,060, Tipperary v Waterford 49,754.