Record numbers to attend GAA ties

Gaelic Games: It is by some accounts the only place to be seen this weekend, with some of the best bands in the world coming to Punchestown racecourse. Yet the numbers going through the GAA turnstiles over the same two days will dwarf attendances for the Oxegen music festival,  Ian O'Riordan reports

In terms of crowd figures it should be the biggest weekend in GAA history. Across six championship matches - four of which are do-or-die affairs - the overall attendance figure should touch the 200,000 mark. Centre stage will be tomorrow's Ulster football final between Armagh and Donegal at Croke Park. With all tickets sold-out, it is set to be played before a capacity crowd of 69,000 people.

Three All-Ireland qualifiers will be decided later today, with no way back for the teams involved. In hurling, Munster rivals Tipperary and Cork will be playing in Fitzgerald Stadium in Killarney at 4.15 p.m. - the first of four games also down for live television coverage.

And you couldn't ask for a better warm-up act.

Tomorrow's Munster football final between Limerick and Kerry - with the makings of an historic occasion - also goes out live, directly after the Ulster final. From there, the cameras take the armchair fan to Thurles, where All-Ireland hurling champions Kilkenny take on National League champions Galway. Together, that makes for some six hours of continuous live GAA coverage tomorrow afternoon.

Completing the weekend billing are this evening's two All-Ireland football qualifiers. Tommy Lyons will look to get Dublin further back on the championship track against Longford in Portlaoise, while Wexford entertain Offaly in another All-Leinster clash at Wexford Park.

"There's no doubt this is the biggest weekend for the GAA in terms of spectator numbers," says Fergal McGill of the GAA press office at Croke Park. "The only thing that would come close in recent years is the double-bill of All-Ireland football quarter-finals, which have been played on consecutive days at Croke Park. But in that case you'd be only talking about 120,000 or so over the two days.

"If you run through the six games set for this weekend, you quickly come up with a figure over 200,000. And that's being reasonable with the estimates that would be expected to attend. But then you can never be too sure about the numbers that will show up for the qualifiers."

The Ulster final is the only game set to attract a capacity attendance, but the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick should come close to a full house of 50,000 for the meeting of Limerick and Kerry. Both the hurling qualifiers are expected to attract in excess of 25,000.

In most cases entrance can be ensured at the turnstiles, with cash being taken in both Wexford and Portlaoise for the football qualifiers. Terrace tickets for this evening's hurling qualifier will be available at Fitzgerald Stadium from 10.0 this morning, and tomorrow's meeting between Kilkenny and Galway at Thurles will also see cash taken at the stiles.

The clash with the Oxegen festival - where all 60,000 tickets are sold out - will create traffic flow problems in the direction of the south, particularly from the Dublin area. The festival promoters have advised the public to avoid the Punchestown and Naas areas where traffic restrictions will be in place.