Donegal secures extra ticket allocation for All-Ireland semi-final versus Meath

Donegal GAA chairperson Mary Coughlan has moved to ease concerns over club ticket allocations ahead of Sunday’s All-Ireland semi-final against Meath at Croke Park.

Speaking to DonegalLive.ie, Coughlan confirmed that Donegal’s initial ticket allocation of 3,000 has now more than doubled to 6,600 - close to the number the county originally requested for the eagerly awaited clash.

“We’ve begged and borrowed, and while we won't be able to satisfy everyone 100%, we’re well up there,” Ms Coughlan said.

“I’ve seen clubs are working together to swap where they can, particularly for family tickets as you need groups of tickets together.

“We haven't got the allocations we sought for Hill 16 because those seem to have been snapped up early on.

“The last tickets were to go out to clubs at lunchtime on Wednesday.

“Not everyone is going to be ecstatic, but we've put in a lot of work to get these extra tickets to try and get clubs fairly well sorted.”

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Despite the increased allocation, several clubs have been left struggling to meet demand, particularly those that took large pre-orders from members. With Croke Park’s 82,000-capacity close to a sell-out, tickets have become increasingly scarce.

By midweek, Ticketmaster was already warning of 'low availability', and was offering restricted-view seats in the nosebleed seats in the Canal End.

Milford was among a number of clubs still waiting on tickets as late as Wednesday afternoon. Long-serving ticketing officer Joe McNulty expressed frustration after the club’s request for 226 tickets - many for families - only arrived on Wednesday afternoon.

“This Ticketmaster system is a complete disaster as far as I'm concerned. Club orders should be facilitated for 48 hours before the rest go on sale Ticketmaster.

“But I'm afraid the top levels in Croke Park have gone away from the club and gone too corporate with everything.

“I've been handling ticket orders for the Milford club for over 20 years, and I've never seen anything like this. It's just been a circus.”

St Eunan's chairman John Haran reported similar issues, noting his club was initially over 100 tickets short, although that number had since been reduced to around 30.

“That's still a lot of disappointed people, and I don't think the tickets they are getting are the best seats in the place,” he said. “There's been better tickets sold on Ticketmaster.

“Overall, it’s a bit of handlin’ for club officers. There needs to be better communication around ticket sales, we either go one way or the other - Ticketmaster or through the clubs.”

Coughlan revealed that in conversations with officials from Meath and Kerry during the week, she learned those counties don’t distribute tickets through clubs unless it's for a provincial or All-Ireland final.

She believes Donegal may have to consider adopting a similar model to avoid the confusion and frustration experienced this week.

“We are going to have to think about what we do in future,” she said. “Apart from finals, we’re going to have to look at a different way of doing things.”