INSIDE JOB A general view of the University of Galway Connacht GAA Air Dome in Bekan. Pic: Sportsfile
Mike Finnerty
APPROXIMATELY 1,000 to 1,200 tickets are expected to go on sale on Wednesday at 1pm for Saturday evening’s FBD Connacht League semi-final between Mayo and Galway at the University of Galway/Connacht GAA Air Dome in Bekan.
Connacht GAA secretary John Prenty confirmed to The Mayo News last night that a decision on the exact number of patrons that would be allowed to attend the game was due to be made today (Tuesday).
Prenty expects the tickets to sell out quickly for the first meeting of Mayo and Galway since last summer’s Connacht championship clash in Castlebar.
Connacht GAA chiefs have brought the throw-in time for Saturday evening’s match forward to 5.30pm in order to avoid a direct clash with Tooreen’s All-Ireland Intermediate club hurling final which throws-in at Croke Park at 7pm, and is being broadcast live on TG4.
“We’re starting the FBD match an hour and a half earlier than was initially planned because we know some people may want to watch the Tooreen game on TV,” said John Prenty.
“We’d already made the fixtures for the FBD League before Tooreen qualified for the final, and we had made arrangements for Roscommon and Sligo this Friday evening, and Mayo against either Galway or Leitrim on the Saturday evening.
“Galway obviously beat Leitrim last Friday and we would always make sure that the team that plays on the Friday gets an extra day of recovery before they play again, which is why the second semi-final is scheduled for next Saturday,” he added.
“The Dome is also fully booked out for other events for Sunday so moving the Mayo v Galway game to Sunday wasn’t an option.
“We made the decision that the FBD League would be played inside because the weather is just too unpredictable at this time of year to play outdoors,” concluded Prenty.
Saturday evening’s game is being live streamed by Connacht GAA.
For more information on match tickets and streaming the game, visit connachtgaa.ie
