Fans paint the town red as 20,000 head for Dublin

MUNSTER was awash in a sea of red yesterday as rugby fever gripped the province in preparation for tomorrow’s Heineken Cup semi -final clash against Leinster.

Up to 20,000 fans are expected to travel from all parts of Munster to Lansdowne Road for what has been described by Pat Geraghty of Munster Rugby as “the biggest game in the Heineken Cup for years”.

All trains from Cork, Kerry and Limerick to Dublin before tomorrow’s match are booked out and traffic delays are expected on the main roads from the south to the capital as thousands more fans make their way to Lansdowne Road by car or bus.

Cork was painted red yesterday - in Munster, rather than county colours - as fans prepared for the big match.

However, Leinster fans also made their mark when they spray-painted the words Up Leinster on a billboard advertising the Heineken Cup on Cork’s Water Street.

In Limerick, the Connolly’s chain of men’s shops was yesterday acclaimed the most ‘Munsterised’ business in the land, winning tickets to tomorrow’s match.

Noelle Connolly said they had dressed all their mannequins in Munster jerseys and placed a life-size picture of Ronan O’Gara beside them.

“We dressed all our three shops in a sea of red and even had Munster caps on our mannequins who were dressed in formal wedding suits,” she said.

Connolly Man also won a second competition for the best-dressed shop, organised by Magees - and another two tickets to the match.

Noelle said: “It went from a famine to a feast and we will raffle these two tickets among the rest of the staff.

“We got a double win and let’s hope Limerick has a double win on Sunday with Munster beating Leinster and Limerick beating Clare in the hurling.”

The second winner of two tickets in the Limerick Coordination Office’s best-dressed shop and house competition was Sharon McMeel for the effort she put into decorating her home.

The 27-year-old had given up all hope of getting a ticket to tomorrow’s clash.

She said: “The phone rang and I was told that I was the lucky winner of two tickets to Sunday’s match and an overnight in The Clarion Hotel. The first thing I did was ring my mum, Dolores, to tell her we are going to Dublin and she kept ringing me back to check if it was true.”

Among the memorabilia used to decorate Sharon’s house in Dooradoyle was a flag with three crowns - the original Munster logo - jerseys, hats and scarves from matches over the past 10 years and teddy bears decked in Munster colours.

There was concern yesterday, however, about touts ripping off ticketless fans.

With tickets changing hands for hundreds of euro and bids as high as €1,800 for a pair of tickets recorded on internet auction site eBay, Fine Gael yesterday called for legislation to tackle touts.

TD Jimmy Deenihan said: “With two Munster v Leinster tickets sold for €600, how much will touts rip off fans outside Lansdowne Road?

“As kick-off gets closer and closer, fans without tickets will become more desperate and unscrupulous touts are likely to exploit them outside the stadium on Sunday morning.

“Tickets touts know there is a fortune to be made and those who buy up tickets with the aim of flogging them outside the stadium at outrageous mark-ups must be prosecuted and their activities stamped out.”