The world exclusive on this one has already been claimed by my blogging colleague No One Shouted Stop! but it’s worth repeating here that the match against Westmeath on Sunday week (8th of March) will be an all-ticket one. The County Board decided this last night (here’s Midwest’s confirmation of it) and they’ve also decreed that home supporters will be allocated “about 2,000” tickets.
What’s the capacity of O’Hara Park? I would have thought it was at least 4,000, maybe more, but this can’t be the case as that would mean that they’re reserving a similar ticket allocation for the Lake County’s fans. It’s difficult to envisage more than a couple of hundred hardy souls travelling down from Westmeath for this match and so you’d have to wonder if the decision to make it all-ticket is really necessary. If it is, on the other hand, then you’d have to question whether or not it makes sense to play the game in Charlestown at all, notwithstanding the fact that it’s handier for those of us travelling to it from the eastern side of the country (which, of course, includes Westmeathers).
We know that Ballina can hold at least 4,500 so why not play it there and save us all the slightly absurd task of having to sort out tickets for a Gaelic match in the first week in March?
totally agree..where can these tickets be bought? Tickets for a league match against westmeath..they have to be pulling the piss.
I presume they must be available from the clubs but the more I think about it, the dafter the whole thing sounds. The sooner this work is done in McHale Park, the better.
Does seem a bit bizarre to be having all ticket NFL game against probably the least attractive game in the league campaign.
How is this going to affect the dubs game at McHale? Do we know the reduced capacity for the game bearing in mind the works going on?
I’m travelling over from glasgow for the dubs game and if it is ticket don’t hold much hope of getting one.
Dunno what the capacity will be in McHale Park for the Dubs game but you’d have to think they’d fit at least 15,000 into it without the new stand. That should be more than enough for the size of the crowd that’ll turn up for that one. That said, if the County Board can decide that a match against Westmeath should be all-ticket, then there’s obviously every danger they’ll do the same for the Dubs game, even if that one is in Castlebar.