Munster SHC attendances likely to surpass 2024 numbers 

Cork supporters during the Munster SHC Round 3 match between Cork and Limerick. Pic: Daire Brennan/Sportsfile

The majority of the 10 Munster senior hurling championship round games are on their way to becoming sell-outs.

Unprecedented demand for the five-week staging of the competition proper means the province are likely to break last year’s combined record attendance of 270,750.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the only tickets available on Ticketmaster were for Tipperary’s Round 1 and 4 games with Limerick and Waterford and terrace admission for the Limerick-Clare Round 5 in TUS Gaelic Grounds on May 25.

Owing to the diminishing interests in some counties towards the end of the championship, it is unlikely all 10 will sell out, but if that were the case, the aggregate attendance for the round stages would be approximately 320,000.

Tickets which hadn’t been taken up by club orders and season ticket holders went on public sale for eight of the round matches last Wednesday, but many of those allocations quickly sold out.

There had been no public sale for Clare’s opening clash with Cork in Biomet-Zimmer Páirc Chíosóg on Sunday week nor Waterford’s hosting of Limerick in Walsh Park on May 3.

The Munster Council have also confirmed the venue permutations for the provincial senior hurling final on Saturday, June 7. As part of a rota agreed with the Leinster Council, the final will return to a Sunday billing in 2026.

Should Cork reach the decider, it will either be in the Gaelic Grounds if their opposition is Clare, Limerick or Waterford. In the event of their rivals being Tipperary, their home-advantage agreement dictates it will be in Páirc Uí Chaoimh as the pair’s previous showdown in 2006 was in Thurles.

A fourth consecutive Clare-Limerick final will be staged in Cork as part of the neutral venue rota. If Limerick and Tipperary finish in the top two, they will meet in FBD Semple Stadium where they will clash in Sunday week’s opening round fixture.

Should Clare meet Tipperary or Waterford in the final, SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh will be the venue as it will be if Waterford and either Limerick or Tipperary qualify as the best two in the province.

Ticket prices for the round stages increased by €5 for both stand and terrace tickets, and it is anticipated that the cost of admission will also rise for the final. Munster GAA last year reported €6.794 million in gate receipts from its senior hurling championship. 

The €8m mark could be reached this year.