BY CHRIS MCNULTY
AN allocation of tickets for next month’s Ulster Championship game between Donegal and Tyrone will go on general sale tomorrow.
The Ulster Council have confirmed that 20 per cent of the 17,520 tickets will be put on general release through www.tickets.ie and also made available in the usual SuperValu and Centra outlets.
That means that just over 3,500 (3,504 to be precise) tickets will be on sale tomorrow for the eagerly-awaited showdown at Sean MacCumhaill Park in Ballybofey.
“Eighty per cent of the tickets will go to both counties and a 20 per cent allocation will be out on Tuesday,” said Ryan Feeney, the Ulster Council’s Head of Community and Public Affairs.
“The two competing counties will get the best preference tickets first and those tickets will go out to the respective clubs.
“Initially, 20 per cent will be on general sale and any more being released will depend on what the counties sell.”
Mr Feeney confirmed that the capacity of Sean MacCumhaill Park will be the same, 17,520, as when the two counties crossed paths in 2013 in a sell-out contest.
The full house signs are again expected to be posted ahead of the May 17th clash of the north-west rivals.
Mr Feeney said: “We are certainly planning for a sell-out fixture at this stage and our indications are that we will have that. There have been issues in the past, but we don’t foresee there being any tickets remaining to distribute.”
GAA season ticket holders are guaranteed a ticket for the game, which means that in excess of 2,500 tickets will also be removed before the Donegal and Tyrone County Boards get their allocations.
There are more than 1,400 season ticket holders in Donegal alone.
This will be the ninth time in ten years that Ballybofey will play host to an Ulster SFC game with Donegal having been fortunate to land home draws in recent times.
In 2013, goals by Colm McFadden and Ross Wherity gave Donegal a 2-10 to 0-10 win over Tyrone.
Officials in Tyrone raised complaints that year, claiming that the ground’s capacity wouldn’t be enough to cater for their demands, but the Red Hands were left red faced when 1,000 of their ticket allocation was returned.
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