Didnāt some clubs in cork ger 25 stand tickets ? That isnāt a whole pile when you start with a committe, coaches, players and sponsors.
Itās an absolute thankless task. Everyone always thinks they are the most deserving. I remember asking one lad to join a draw and he wouldnāt because he didnāt get tickets for a final. Itās some of the worst shite youād have to deal with particularly in rural communities.
How is the school allocation sorted out? Between primary and secondary thereās surely well over the 2200 or so tickets mentioned there?
Thatās bullshit in fairness. A friendās club in Cork got about 50 tickets he said. They have three adults teams so not even nearly enough to sort players let alone members.
Imagine the big Dublin clubs when they have to sort agents and scouts too.
There have been a good few over the last 15 years or so Iām not sure have ever actually been alive. They definitely had a very dead behind the eyes look anyway.
Careful now mate, saying something negative about Lehane around here will get you strung up.
Tue, 16 Jul, 2024 - 08:15
All this time later and there remains a self-confidence within that group. There remains too an energy between us. Intangible, but absolutely present. It stems from the simple reality that we went into battle together on a wet and unpleasant Sunday afternoon 25 years ago and came out victorious. We showed up together.
As a player and later a selector, I was involved in four All-Ireland finals. Only one - 1999 - ended happily. That achievement of winning an All-Ireland creates a lifelong bond that is never broken.
And so if Patrick Horgan and SeĆ”n OāDonoghue are heading into town for suits on this week 25 years from now, what they achieved on the field will enable them to comfortably fall back into one anotherās company and reminisce, just as we did last week, about the different unpublicised moments that made the difference.
Who or what can make the difference on this latest final Sunday? Thereās a gearbag full of questions to be teased out. Weāll not get through them all here.
Of those weāre prioritising, letās start with the respective forward units. Iāve divided them into two groups. Group 1 is the headline acts and headline scorers. Group 2, while we absolutely wonāt call them the supporting cast, theyāve not yet done enough or been around long enough to achieve headline status.
So for Cork, Group 1 is Hoggie, Harnedy, and Shane Barrett, while Group 2 is Alan Connolly, Brian Hayes, and Deccie Dalton. For Clare, Shane OāDonnell, Tony Kelly and Mark Rodgers comprise their first group, with the second group filled by Peter Duggan, David Reidy, and Aidan McCarthy.
The players in Group 2 have every bit as important a role as their more established and in-form teammates.
For Clare, McCarthy has displayed at times a flakiness in his free-taking. Against Kilkenny, though, he really stepped up on that placed-ball front. Reidyās scoring contribution has been in and out, but in the games against Kilkenny, Wexford, and the round-robin win over Cork, he was consistent at 0-3. As for Duggan, he presents a very obvious puck-out threat.
Over to Cork. Connolly, when he takes flight as he did in Munster, is a borderline superstar. Hayes was the 1-4 difference against Limerick. And Deccie has shown himself so able in playing the channels, and equally able in his long-range striking.
Is there a surprise docket from among these six? Can the something special come from one of them?
Corkās Group 2, to date, has been the more impressive, more consistent. As a result, Cork are not leaning on their headline acts as much as Clare are OāDonnell, Rodgers, and the fit-again Kelly. If any of these three are unable to impose themselves on Sundayās final, or the scoreboard, Clare will need either McCarthy to be unerring with everything he touches or for Duggan to produce over 70 minutes what he produced in the second half at PĆ”irc UĆ Chaoimh.
Back to the key actors. OāDonnell is the Hurler of the Year frontrunner. A big final from Shane Barrett and who knows what personal accolades will fall into his lap. The Blarney clubman has hit 2-16 on the road to the final, OāDonnell 2-12. But the pair are contributing so much more than what these figures add up to. The day in PĆ”irc UĆ Chaoimh at the end of April, 2-7 came off the Clare playmaker.
They both possess a ferocious ruthlessness and yet at the same time are ultimate team players. Superb peripheral vision. Superb ability to pick a pass. A managerās dream.
Eoin Downey will stand beside OāDonnell at throw-in. But another string to OāDonnellās busy bow is how comfortable he is playing between the lines. This poses a problem for Pat Ryan.
I canāt see Eoin being told to follow him out. Moreover, it would be dangerous to bring Eoin out of the full-back line. Let Shane be promptly picked up by another red shirt when he drifts out.
Similarly at the other end, I donāt see John Conlon shadowing Barrett onto the flanks where the latter loves to roam and ravage. The scenario I envisage is the returning Ryan Taylor, who I believe will start, and Cathal Malone dropping deep into the half-back line to not alone try and stifle Barrett, but to cut out the space that Darragh Fitzgibbon ran into and thrived against Limerick.
There is much made of Corkās pace from Fitzgibbon up. But Brian Lohan will know, from his full-back days, that you need space to utilise speed. Clare will attempt to make their own half of the field incredibly compact.
Thatās one obvious Cork threat. But away from the floor and turning to the skies, Cork have improved immeasurably. It was an area I felt we were exploited in during recent years. Not anymore.
The Downey twin-towers from the northside of the city will have no fear in competing aerially with OāDonnell, Duggan, and Co. As for the southside twin-towers in Hayes and Connolly, Lohan will burn oil contemplating these matchups. Adam Hogan watched Connolly when last they met, but does he now take Hayes, even if there is a height mismatch, given what the Barrs man did to the fallen champions?
Will OāDonnell break Cork hearts as he did 11 years ago? Will Patrick finally get his All-Ireland medal?
My heart says Cork. Of course it does. But my experience tells me that staying away from the bookies could be the best bet I make all week.
Forgive the spot of eulogising to finish.
The margins will be fractional, the fare magical, and thatās what makes our national game without question the greatest in the world.
Whatever your colours, enjoy Sunday.
Seems like a bit of a double whammy for junior clubs with having a lower allocation and then having a lower chance of having a player on the panel
To be fair I have very little experience with All-Ireland final tickets other than winning the odd one in the club draw as a neutral. I have my name in that hat for Sunday actually. Itās been said on here fairly regularly though that anyone who deserves one generally tends to get one. It struck me as a classic case of the bandwagoner but as youāve said given the numbers in Cork GAA then it would be difficult to snaffle one. Iām in two minds on it. This is a unique year given the 11 and 19 year longing for victory in question.
I love those heartbreaking stories biggest fan, been to every game since god was a boy.
I half think the original poster is looking to pocket the tickets themselves
Your on the money, if they were that big of a fan they would be sorted. Plenty of tickets will be floating come friday
Ive had two tickets pass through me to Clare savage acquaintances, all blown out of proportion as always.
Ive 2 sorted and promised away. Another 2 lined up for myself.
A lot already sorted from anyone i spoke to, the genuine supporters of cork id pass mine onto but look it they are sorted themselves. Ill be up early for the pints
Il try and hold one more for a football swap which il attend myself.
Iād personally love 4 tickets for this game. And then Iād burn them
I prefer to watch events on TV, in comfort. Ive always been like that but itās gone worse as Ive got older.
Watching the game on Sunday on my own is my kind of bliss.
Itās not the same not being there when itās your own team, for me. Rugby on the other hand is a sport for watching at home.
Nothing at all wrong with that. If they were all as consistent as that thereād be no mad scramble for tickets
I disagree tv direction in rugby is terrible
