The hurlers tend to bring a hardcore of 2-3000 to championship irrespective.
There was nowhere near 2,000 or 3,000 Offaly supporters in Limerick for the Clare game last year.
That was in the aftermatch of us nearly winning a Leinster title and in anticipation of a close battle against the Banner boyz.
This is 6 days after the biggest meltdown of the modern era!
I would have said about 2,000 in Limerick last year, but then maybe that was just me. I seem to remember something about the full attendance being nearly 10,000, and while we were hugely outnumbered I don't remember us being that scarce.
They're gone nuts on upthedeise altogether. Lads reckoning we're going to bring around 10,000 and that they'll have to be there a half an hour before the football to get in. I haven't the heart to tell them.
Lone Shark wrote:They're gone nuts on upthedeise altogether. Lads reckoning we're going to bring around 10,000 and that they'll have to be there a half an hour before the football to get in. I haven't the heart to tell them.
So long as they stay away from the prime spots in the ground!
I don't think Carlow will be able for this either.
With both flavours of Biff out, we surely will have a decent number, say 5,000, otherwise the shark might as well retire!
Throw in 9,000 colour blind carlow lads, and 10,000 deise, and it'll be bursting at the seams.
Its not a massive journey for any county involved, so the numbers should be there.
Lads, there's no way anything near 5,000 will travel down from Offaly.
Kilkenny is just down the road and for the 2 Kildare games in 2002 the attendance was about 8,000 at each game.
These were Leinster semi-finals, when there was more optimism in Offaly GAA.
Unfortunately people don't travel to away venues outside of Croke Park.
Once Offaly are out of Leinster then whatever support there is, vanishes for the qualifiers.
We'll count them at the gate as they come in.
I just get the feeling that a lot of fans have thrown their hat at it and stopped bothering.
Hopefully we'll bring down a good few though.
At this stage of the week, is there any serious chance of either:
(a) this becoming an All-Ticket fixture, and if so where/how would tickets be made available?
(b) the Hurling game being moved to another venue?
If the answer to both is No, then I still reckon that we'd need to aim to be in the ground at least a half hour before throw in. I've never been in Dr.Cullen Park before but I understand it's at the Dublin/Castledermot side of the town, so I take it access should be easy.
(a) No chance of all ticket at this stage
(b) No real chance of moving the hurling either - they know full well that to expect Offaly support to be in two places on the same day is foolish - and because it's a double header they'll be able to charge more.
Access to Dr. Cullen is not bad at all. It's more or less at a roundabout (I think it's even called the Dr. Cullen Roundabout??) on the way in on the Dublin side. But certainly I'll be getting there on the early side to be safe.
Regarding the 2002 attendance, you have to remember that the first game was the same day as Ireland vs Spain in the World Cup. Though we'd all like to think that that wouldn't make a difference, being realistic......
Anyway, I stand by the fact that a lot of Offaly people follow either the footballers or the hurlers but not both. That's why I think there should be a good crowd here for this.
Thanks for that LS. In fairness to the Hurlers, they deserve a decent bit of support after last Sunday. That had to be hard to take, to be on the field and take a beating like that. If ever we want to feel justified in calling ourselves the Faithful County, now is the time. It's nicely set up for us having the double-header, with our better-prospect-game on first and it's the win-or-bust one too. Both teams should not lack for motivation (albeit for different reasons) and so we should NOT leave them lacking for support.
Edit: just noticed I had left out the word "NOT" in the last line. Some Freudian slip
The word is that the stand in Carlow is "all-ticket", these will only be available trough the clubs. There's only a couple of hundred for Offaly, so if you wnat one for there you'd better start annoying your club secretary now.
I presume "The Shark" will opt for the terrace anyway?
LS- Indeed I remember watching the shoot-out in Langtons that day in KK! Another match-up that we should have won!
Yeah, we'll be terrace for certain. We'll aim for pretty central on the opposite side to the stand, but if it's too crowded we'll go towards the 45 away from the entrances as opposed to nearer.
This is how messed up I am in the head - I was working in Tallaght that day, and my main relief when the game went to extra time was - that the road would now be quieter on the way down. Absolutely sailed on past Blessington and into Carlow county before there was a single car on the road - made great time. I have to be honest and say that the Repubbalick of Oireland don't interest me too much. The rugby team yes, Connacht Rugby certainly, but that shower, no.
The game I was referring to that we should have won was Offaly against Kildare, another year went without any great sucesses, and then they somehow managed to have an extra man in extra time the second day.
If teams like Fermanagh can put in 100% for the qualifiers then Offaly should be able to too. The way I see it winning a 2006 Leinster title starts on Saturday, a decent championship run of some kind is badly lacking in this team and a good win on Saturday could be the start of that. Offaly are the better team but they need to start playing to their potential and lose the "nearly" tag.
Completely different mentality from Fermanagh though. They hate Ulster football, and prefer being out of it. They look on the qualifiers as when the shackles are released and they can play ball. For that very reason I fancy Down to beat them at the weekend.
We on the other hand look on Leinster as the land of opportunity and the qualifiers as a wasteland with nothing to be reaped from it. Possibly not the best mentality, but I think it's because Leinster is so winnable that teams tend to gear up to win it, and as such Leinster teams tend to be less interested in backdoor games. Meath are another very like us in that regard.
I have to be honest and say that the Repubbalick of Oireland don't interest me too much. The rugby team yes, Connacht Rugby certainly, but that shower, no.