‘Frenzy’ as 60,000 hurling tickets sell in under an hour

There were 60,000 tickets sold in under an hour this afternoon for the Munster Senior Hurling Championship games, with 90,000 tickets sold overall in the last two days.

The tickets, which went on sale at approximately 12pm, sold like “hot cakes” according to communications manager for the Munster GAA, Ed Donnelly, who also said there was an additional 30,000 season tickets sold since Tuesday.

The championship games will see Cork compete in four matches, both at home and away, against Clare, Tipperary, Limerick, and Waterford, across April and May.

Speaking to The Echo, Mr Donnelly said that while the board expected a healthy rate of ticket sales, they were not expecting such an unprecedented demand.

“The tickets went on sale at around 12 noon and within the hour, there was 60,000 sold — that is a fair amount of sales for any particular set of events,” said Mr Donnelly.

“We were expecting the tickets to sell, but I’m not sure we’ve ever sold that amount in such a short period of time.

“60,000 in an hour is 1,000 per minute — and since yesterday, there were 30,000 season tickets sold — so that’s nearly 100,000 tickets.

“There is obviously a lot of interest in the Munster hurling championship in general, it seems to be the hot ticket at the moment, so we’re delighted that they sold out so quickly.

“We can’t say that they’re all sold out, because the remaining tickets are with clubs and county boards, but I don’t think there will be many coming back.

“For the Cork matches in particular, I would very much doubt that any tickets will come back for public sale because of the demand.

“Sunday’s league final showed the demand [for Cork matches], those tickets went on sale and they were snapped up quite quickly, so there’s obviously a lot of excitement around Cork hurling at the moment.

“Each year the excitement generated by the games seems to get better and better, and as a result people want to attend.

“Cork have always been the number one supported team whether they’re winning or losing, and they are on a high at the moment, so that is significantly impacting ticket sales.”

Cork County Board chairman Pat Horgan said that there is definitely a “frenzy” of fan support surrounding the Cork team at the moment, with the fast-paced sale of the Munster Hurling Championship tickets coming as no surprise due to the level of support provided by local fans.

“There’s a phenomenal demand in Cork for tickets,” said Mr Horgan.

“Cork is the team at the moment that has the largest following in Munster — that’s why those tickets are inclined to sell out so quickly.

“It’s unreal what’s happening, the Cork public are really getting behind the team — there’s a real frenzy about following [them] at the moment.

“Everyone was taken aback by the sell-out for the Cork v Tipperary league final [this weekend] — which, I think, was an indication of the demand that’s out there now for the rest of the year."