Fancy tickets to the Hurling final? Think again
Sunday 20 July will see 82,006 spectators for the GAA All-Ireland Hurling final as Cork take on Tipperary – and tickets for Croke Park will be like gold dust.
Cork made it to their third final in five years by strolling past Dublin, while Tipperary overcame Kilkenny in a dramatic encounter at the weekend.
Though ‘ScoreGate’ stole the headlines, the matter of finding tickets will dominate the thoughts of both sets of supporters over the coming week.
But tickets for the final do not go on general sale, unlike other matches throughout the season, with tickets instead allocated to various bodies and groups.
GAA’s annual report from 2025 show that just shy of 60,000 tickets are given to county allocations, with the remaining tickets split across premium/corporate, season tickets, schools, and even some for overseas and Croke Park residents.
But what does ‘county allocations’ actually mean? The competing counties – Cork and Tipp – receive the most significant of that near-60,000 bunch of tickets, with the rest going to all other county boards. These then filter down to clubs and club members, being offered out through a draw.
So why aren’t tickets on general sale? The GAA has always been firm in its stance that this showpiece match is for everyone in the game in Ireland, hence why each and every club has tickets designated.
In 2016 (Tipperary-Kilkenny) and 2019 (Tipperary-Kilkenny again…) a handful of tickets did end up on general sale, but there’s more chance of Lionel Messi appearing at full-forward on a short-term deal for Cork than this match going to general sale. Interest in both counties, especially Cork, will be enormous.
Therefore, your only real chance of bagging tickets, if you’re not in one of the GAA club draws, is to find club members in other counties and hope they’re willing to part with the ticket they’ve been drawn by their club. Good luck with that.
Tickets are €100 for the stands and €55 for the terrace. Research from the CSO Consumer Price Index show that, even with adjustments made for inflation, this is a 363% rise on the same ticket just over 30 years ago.
Traffic issues may persist
If you get a ticket, you’d better leave good time to get to Croker on July 20. After traffic issues ahead of last weekend’s semi-final between Cork and Dublin, there was also hope that big changes were going to come in before the final.
Cork North Central TDs, Colm Burke of Fine Gael and Sinn Féinn’s Thomas Gould, both spoke of the traffic delays they experienced at toll booths, with Burke describing a 70-minute wait near Fermoy.
And with two Munster teams facing each other for the Liam MacCarthy, delays have the potential to be much worse.
However, a spokesperson for the TII has said that they will not be removing tolls for the day.
