The Dublin County Board should have little problem meeting the huge demand ahead for Saturday week's All-Ireland quarter-final as they will be supplied with 30,000 tickets.
Dublin County Board chairman John Bailey is hopeful of avoiding the scenario that developed before the Leinster final against Laois when several clubs were unable to attain tickets to equal their members' demand.
"We want to satisfy all the requests from our clubs, school kids, juveniles and especially family tickets to ensure all Gaelic games supporters in Dublin can be catered for the match," said Bailey.
Over 21,000 tickets went through official Dublin channels for the provincial final but the Leinster Council credit-card sales sent another 7,000 tickets to residents in the capital.
The ticket office in Croke Park will not decide what amount will be released on general sale until Dublin's opponents are revealed this weekend. If Tyrone, as expected, progress, the number on general sale would significantly decrease. Regardless, a small number will be available on the GAA website early next week.
With a packed house expected for August 13th the GAC have no intention of putting another match on the undercard for this or the Armagh quarter-final on August 20th. This is against the request of Bailey who sought to get the Dublin minor hurlers, who play in their first All-Ireland semi-final in 23 years, against Limerick, into Croke Park with the senior footballers.
This would mean the other minor semi-final, between Cork and Galway, would also have to be switched to Croke Park, although that could be accommodated before the first senior hurling semi-final on August 14th, which also includes Cork. The idea carries plenty of merit, but minor hurling has been usurped this year as the traditional senior curtain-raiser by the finals of the new Nicky Rackard and Christy Ring Cup competitions.
"The losers will never get a chance to play in Croke Park again," said Bailey. "Considering the amount of money invested in underage hurling in Dublin this is a huge marketing opportunity."
However, it is unlikely the fixtures committee will relent, so the two minor semi-finals will go ahead as planned on August 13th (Cork v Galway) and August 20th (Dublin v Limerick) in Portlaoise.
Despite four games taking place in Croke Park this weekend, the number of people turning out over the two days is likely to be fewer than the stand-alone Dublin fixture.
The Kerry County Board has returned half their allocation of 7,000 for Sunday's quarter-final against Mayo. The Cork and Galway game has been hindered by the 1.30pm throw-in and an increasing interest in both counties for the hurling teams who are in the All-Ireland semi-finals.
"The people have been put under pressure financially to attend games recently," said Cork County Board chairman Jim Forbes. "We only got the tickets yesterday (Tuesday) and considering the Bank Holiday just past it will be difficult for many to travel. However, we do have a reasonable interest and expect a good support on the day."
Meanwhile, referees committee spokesman Fr Seámus Gardiner was impressed by the central disciplinary committee chairman Con Hogan who spoke at the referees' meeting last Tuesday night.
"Con just explained what his committee was all about: to enforce discipline. If players are wrongly sent off it will be corrected by video evidence and penalised in a certain way. He came across very fair."
Fr Gardiner ruled out the guarantee of referees refereeing solely within their own provincial competition. "This was done away with in the past because teams that were used to a certain type of refereeing were hindered when they came into the All-Ireland series. Players should experience other types of refereeing. The system was changed so the same interpretation of the rules would eventually be adopted."
