GALWAY’S Brian Concannon celebrates after scoring a goal in their All-Ireland senior hurling championship semi-final against Limerick in Croke Park on Sunday. Photo Ray Ryan

GAA fans counting the cost

Supporters forking out thousands to follow the men in maroon

WITHOUT putting a drop of fuel in the car or grabbing a bite to eat along the way, thousands of loyal Galway GAA supporters would have had to fork out almost €1,000 on tickets alone, if you were to bring a family of four to watch the county’s two flagship men’s teams in all their championship games so far.

In what is now a more condensed inter-county schedule since the introduction of the split season, purchasing stand tickets for the footballers’ four championships game would have cost each adult a total of €180, when you factor in Sunday’s last four meeting with Derry.

Limited juvenile (U-16) tickets for the Croke Park encounter – which cost €10 apiece – have now been completely sold out online. Those families fortunate enough to get their hands on the discounted rates would have spent €30 on children’s tickets in 2022 so far, if they managed to purchase juvenile tickets for their three-game Connacht title winning run and the All-Ireland quarter-final and semi-final clashes against Armagh and Derry.

All-in-all, the total cost of tickets for following Padraic Joyce’s side in the Championship would set a family of four – two adults and two children – back €420. Hurling tickets have provided a greater bang for your buck across their eight-game run, which ended at the hands of Limerick last weekend. A family of four could potentially have spent €540 on seated tickets, bringing a dual supporting family’s overall spend on tickets to €960 in just a 12-week period…

For more, check out this week’s The Tuam Herald or log onto our digital edition HERE