Queues out the door of Limerick shop as hurling fans hunt for Clare tickets

THE HOTTEST ticket going is for Limerick and Clare – the atmosphere in Cusack Park is going to be like a cauldron for those lucky enough to get in.

It was announced a week in advance of Sunday's throw-in that the public sale of tickets were sold out. Even those with good GAA contacts say they can't get one this week for "love nor money". James Ryan, of Centra in O’Connell Street, said “interest has been huge”.

“I wasn't working on Sunday, but I rang the lads, and they told me it was absolutely nuts. People were queuing out the door just to get tickets. When it went offline, people were still asking us. They couldn't get over that they were gone,” said James.

John Cregan, county board chair, said despite the shortage, Limerick fans will “certainly be there in force”.

“I’m sure we will at least be there on a 50/50 basis and that would be good for ourselves. It's unfortunate we are at a reduced capacity, but that's the nature of the competition.

“We'll have a very strong support but it’s hard to put a figure on it. Our support is strong, and it’s increasing game on game as the momentum is so strong. This team has given us some tremendous performances and certainly that attracts some wonderful support,” said Mr Cregan, who hasn’t heard of tickets being sold over the odds.

“I'd be very disappointed to hear that. Increasing the price of tickets on fans in that fashion would be totally unacceptable,” he said.

Three young Doon boys who hope to be at the game in Ennis are Sean Og Blackmore, Evan Crowe and Ewan McLoughlin. It is a huge honour for any club to have one player on this hugely competitive panel but Doon GAA has four. Richie English and Darragh O’Donovan have started every game while Barry Murphy and Pat Ryan “Simon” have made telling contributions from the bench. The sixth class pupils will also be cheering on fellow Doon CBS school mate Aidan O’Connell, who is playing at half-time 

Sean Og’s favourite player is Richie English while Evan and Ewan prefer Darragh O’Donovan. They do agree on who is going to win as they all shout “Limerick!”. They can also look up to Doon CBS teacher – former Limerick hurler and Doon captain, Denny Moloney. He says it is “massive” for Doon GAA to have four on the panel.

“We’ve never had as many on the panel. It’s great for the club. We have two on the minor panel as well that started last Sunday – Bob Purcell and Cormac Ryan. We were all brought up with a hurley. There is a great nursery from six years of age. We’re lucky we don’t really have soccer or rugby that takes fellows away from it,” said Denny, who paid tribute to former Doon CBS principal, Br James Dormer. Barry Murphy put him down as the biggest influence on his hurling career in a recent match programme.