Controversy and confusion over tickets for Tipp's U20 final against Offaly

Ten minutes. That is how long tickets lasted online for the U20 All-Ireland Final between Tipperary and Offaly this Saturday in UPMC Nowlan Park.

With very little time to dwell on the intense Munster Final win over Cork last Friday, Brendan Cummins and his players will have to dust themselves down and prepare for what will be an irresistible occasion for the hurling fans of both counties.

The support for the Offaly U20 team has been well touted in recent weeks and months, with ridiculous crowds gathering to see the great white hopes of Faithful Hurling who won their second Leinster title in succession against Dublin last week, but there will be a more even look to the crowd after what transpired with the match tickets in the last week.

Offaly GAA opted to not take an allocation of tickets to distribute between their clubs, stating that they felt it would be better for supporters to buy their tickets online instead. Tipperary on the other hand looked after the clubs in this regard and even allowing for the supporters who didn’t get tickets through the clubs, it should even the colour scheme in a big way for the match in Kilkenny.

The vast majority of the players on show in this game will have locked horns in the All-Ireland Minor Final in 2022 when the sides also met in Nowlan Park.

Paddy McCormack was the match-winner on that occasion but the Borris-Ileigh man will be unavailable once again with a thumb injury, while Offaly will also be without the services of influential forward Dan Ravenhill.

Adam Screeney is the poster boy for the future of Offaly hurling and he will be one of the main threats for Tipperary to deal with, but he is far from the only talent in their ranks, with Shane Rigney leading the way with 3-11 in their Leinster campaign, while in Brecon Kavanagh, Colin Spain, and Dan Bourke they have quality and experience from being involved at senior level for Johnny Kelly this year.

Speaking after the Munster Final win, Tipperary manager Brendan Cummins was asked if he had seen much of Offaly to date and what he expected from them come throw-in on Saturday.

“To be honest, we’ve been totally focused on trying to win games in the Munster Championship,” Cummins said.

“I watched Offaly play against Kilkenny and they are a seriously impressive team. Kilkenny are a very big, strong team and Offaly just dodged around them with unbelievable skill you know.

“They bring a huge freshness to the game and their supporters are absolutely unbelievable as I know. And I know the Tipperary people will travel in force next week to the All-Ireland Final. It’s going to be a great game.”

Another factor in this game is the fact that both these teams have the vast majority of the players underage for this grade next year, with Tipperary’s starting team in last week’s Munster Final littered with players available for 2025.

“I think we started tonight with 13 underage again next year and I think Offaly are in the same boat.

It just goes to show in hurling, that it’s not all about big physicality and strength; there’s a huge amount of skill to our game as well.

“Offaly have that all over the pitch so we expect a lightning-fast game, but we just have to knuckle down over the next few days,” Cummins said.

“It was amazing, I couldn’t believe it to be honest,” Cummins noted on his feelings at the final whistle.

“In the build-up to the game, we knew that Cork were going to come after what happened in Thurles the last night and you always try to envisage yourself winning but then you can also see yourself losing by 20 points as well. Especially against a team like Cork.

“At the final whistle, it was just relief and I’m just delighted for those young men inside. They have given everything. Anything we have asked them to do, they’ve been there. The heart and spirit that they have we have to nurture. We didn’t give that to them, it’s been there all along.

“It’s not the end, we still have to play Offaly on Saturday and that is the be-all and end-all for this group.”