Hotels looking forward to hurling final rematch

Domhnall O’Donovan’s last- gasp point to secure an All- Ireland final replay had barely dropped over the bar on Sunday before Cork and Clare fans starting looking for accommodation in the capital.

"The phones never stopped ringing after 5pm," said Stephen Hanna, general manager at the Camden Court hotel. "There's definitely been a demand for bookings. I'd have loved to have had another 100 rooms."

Mr Hanna, who is also chair of the Irish Hotels Federation’s (IHF) Dublin branch, said there is usually a limited number of city-centre rooms available in September.

“It will probably push business further out of Dublin,” he said.

He also said that bookings on foot of this year’s All-Ireland finals have been “better” because some of the favourites were knocked out.

“Some of the teams haven’t been in a final in a while,” he said, while adding that many fans reserve a room several months in advance, for example, when their team is at the quarter-final stage.

Tickets for the hurling replay are also expected to be snapped up quickly by fans eager to see their county lift the Liam McCarthy cup.

Head of media relations at the GAA, Alan Milton, said there's never enough tickets for an All-Ireland final in either code.

“I could hazard a guess that we could sell 150,000 tickets for the All-Ireland football final if we had them,” he said.