Hill 16 to open but unlikely to suffice

Gaelic Games/Football qualifiers:Croke Park is now set for a capacity attendance of around 80,000 at tomorrow's All-Ireland football qualifier double bill after the announcement late yesterday evening that the Hill 16 terrace has been made available.

There were doubts earlier this week that some of the safety requirements on the terrace, which had been removed for the building of the Special Olympics stage, might not be reconstructed in time for tomorrow's games. But following an inspection yesterday by fire safety officers, Croke Park were given the all clear to fully reopen the area.

Tickets for the terrace area, as well as a limited number of stand tickets, will now go on sale from 9 o'clock this morning at the office at the rear of the Cusack Stand at Croke Park. The Dublin County Board have already begun distributing their allocation of Hill 16 tickets to the clubs, and any tickets that remain after that process are also due to go on sale from the offices at Parnell Park from 9.30 this morning.

It seems certain that the ticket demand for the double bill, which involves Donegal against Tipperary at 2.15, and then Dublin against Armagh at 4.15, will outweigh the supply.

One indication of the demand was seen in Parnell Park yesterday morning when the Dublin County Board put on sale to the public a supply of tickets left over from those distributed to the clubs, which numbered around 3,500. A line had begun forming before 8 a.m. and within a short period of time all the tickets were gone, leaving many of those who had queued without a ticket.

In fact earlier yesterday it was announced that all the tickets for the games had been distributed through the four respective county boards, and that only a small surplus of tickets was expected to be available today. While the availability of Hill 16 does mean another 10,000 tickets come into circulation, it seems certain they will disappear just as quick.

Part of the problem in the delay in announcing whether or not Hill 16 would be available was the bad weather last Monday which hindered the taking down of the large stage area which had been used for both the opening and closing ceremonies of the Special Olympics.

Many of the gates into the Hill 16 area, as well as a number of the crash barriers on the terrace, had to be taken down to make room for the stage, and these all had to be reconstructed and tested to meet necessary safety standards.

According to a spokesperson for Croke Park, it was necessary to wait until final approval was granted before word of the tickets could be announced.

"Obviously it was not ideal announcing that the 10,000 tickets will after all go on sale the day before the game," he said, "But we had to wait as long as possible, because there was always the outside chance that the area would not in fact be made available."

While it is now expected that the Hill 16 tickets will all be taken up before the day is out, any tickets that do remain will go on sale tomorrow morning at Croke Park prior to the game. An announcement as to when and where they might be available will be made through the media as soon as the details are available.

With the demand in both Dublin and Armagh particularly high, the figure of 79,386 that attended the meeting between the two counties in last year's All-Ireland semi-final final is set to be surpassed. A slightly higher figure of 79,500 attended the subsequent All-Ireland final between Armagh and Kerry.