Tickets still available for Lions game against Argentina amid hefty pricing
Far from being the sell-out anticipated, tickets are still available for the
British & Irish Lions
' warm-up non-Test against
Argentina
in the Aviva Stadium on Friday (kick-off 8pm, live on TG4 and Sky Sports).
Most likely the hefty pricing of tickets and hotels are a contributory factor for what is the Lions first game in Ireland.
In addition to premium-level tickets being returned, the cheapest remaining single tickets on Ticketmaster are priced at €148, while those seeking two tickets together will have to pay a minimum of €190 on Ticketmaster to be able to sit with a friend or family member.
Last week, one colleague looking to stay in Dublin on Friday night could not find a hotel room for less than €550, for one night. A search on booking.com on Wednesday following the two team announcements, uncovered one hotel priced at €280 for a one-night stay on Friday night, with another at €473 and thereafter none for less than €720.
READ MORE
For his first game as the Lions' head coach, Andy Farrell
has named a match day 23 captained by Maro Itoje
and featuring 14 players in line to make their Lions debut as well as three Irish players in the starting XV in Finlay Bealham, Tadhg Beirne and Bundee Aki, and three replacements in Ronan Kelleher, Tadhg Furlong and Mack Hansen.
Whether that will encourage some supporters to snap up the remaining tickets and make this historic fixture a sell-out remains to be seen.
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The Irish Sun
34 minutes ago
- The Irish Sun
Sam Mulroy doubles down on brave All-Ireland claim he ‘took a lot of slack for' after inspiring Louth to Leinster glory
SAM MULROY is determined to secure a second date with his silver namesake after a summer of love so far. The neighbours Meath in last month's 2 Louth footballer Sam Mulroy poses for a portrait at the national launch of the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Series Credit: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile 2 Louth footballer Sam Mulroy poses for a portrait with the Sam Maguire Cup at the national launch of the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Series Credit: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile On a day when the country fell back in love with the maligned provincial Championship , With Dublin aiming for a 15th Delaney Cup in a row, the public's relationship with the Leinster Championship had turned sour. But Louth's heroics — after Meath had Mulroy got his hands on Sam Maguire at the launch of the All-Ireland knockout series this week before a preliminary quarter-final trip to Read More on GAA And the confident hitman has reiterated his belief that the Wee County can take home the big prize for the first time since 1957, a claim he reveals he has copped flak for. He said: 'Absolutely, I took a little bit of slack for it before, which was fine but I suppose it was a case of putting it out there into the world and saying, 'Why could we not be in contention?' 'The group's gone about doing the work to put us in contention and to play in these games. Obviously last week Meath beat Kerry and they beat Dublin. 'They're results you wouldn't be calling maybe last year with the rule changes and the two-pointers and the expansive game. Most read in GAA Football 'So I don't think you can rule anything out going into the next few weeks.' Winning Leinster for just the ninth time in their history understandable took its toll. 'Just in time for Father's Day' - Dublin GAA legends welcome the birth of precious baby daughter The hangover carried into the All-Ireland group stages as back-to-back defeats against Monaghan and Down left their summer hanging by a thread. Ger Brennan's men did the business in the final round against Clare, but only just. They eventually banished the Banner 2-17 to 2-14 last weekend to advance in third. Mulroy said: 'Winning Leinster has been the main goal over the last number of years for this group. I suppose when you get there and you do it, maybe there is a case of coming down a little bit. 'There was obviously a lot of celebrating going on for a few days after but you have to, because it took a long time to get there and you have to enjoy it and live in the moment. 'But our performances against Monaghan and Down weren't up to scratch and we knew going into last weekend that we had to win to save the Championship. 'I don't know if we played better that way with our backs against the wall a little bit, but maybe it was the best thing for us. 'I thought at times last week we were good, so hopefully we're coming back to some sort of form. 'It's 68 years, so for the people of Louth it was a once-in-a-lifetime thing for a lot of people. 'Hopefully the gap is not as big the next time. I suppose it's hard to get back on track, maybe, even just for people around the county and talking about it and not getting caught up in that. 'We were back training on the Wednesday, obviously with a job to do and we knew we were going into a tough group. 'It was a case of maybe you didn't get to bask in it as much as you'd like, but we enjoyed the few days we got.' TOP MARKS Mulroy has the mindset of a top marksman as, despite firing a number of wides against the Royals, he still ran up a huge total. The Naomh Máirtín hotshot admits putting those off-target efforts behind him was key, allowing him to fire a two-point free in the 65th minute to move Louth ahead of their neighbours and put one hand on the Delaney Cup. The 27-year-old said: 'Moments come and pass and it's trying to stay on track and not get too caught up in it. 'By the time I took the last kick, I'd completely forgotten about the few before. 'The few I missed at the start of the second half, when you're watching the clips back with the boys at the Wednesday training, you're like, 'Why did I take that shot' or, 'What was I doing there?' 'You nearly forget about them and I think that's an ability and a skill that you develop over the years. 'Not getting too high and not getting too low with your shots or your chances or whatever it is because the game's so fast. 'There's no time. A younger Sam maybe would've dwelled on them and let it get to me and affect me. 'But I suppose now as I've grown as a player, I've definitely learned to just move on and forget about it.' Louth have a free shot tomorrow. And their star man is full of belief ahead of their trip to Ballybofey for a battle of the Ulster and Leinster champs. They are familiar foes too with Louth asking plenty of questions of Jim McGuinness' side in an All-Ireland quarter-final loss last year. Mulroy said: 'I will putting that message to the group that we're not going up to Ballybofey for the craic or to fulfil a fixture. 'We're in a preliminary quarter-final for the All-Ireland series and we played in a quarter-final at Croke Park last year, so it's a case of let's try and go better again this year and progress as a team. 'It won't be, 'Let Donegal go through into a quarter-final'. 'It was either Killarney, Croke Park against Dublin or Ballybofey against Donegal so the options weren't massively in our favour. 'It was always going to be a tough test no matter who we got, but you see there's an opportunity and you try to say how are we going to go about winning this game. 'That's the case now. so we'll do our best to prepare and hopefully we'll give it our all.'
The Irish Sun
an hour ago
- The Irish Sun
Aoife McCoy reveals Armagh LGFA taking inspiration from male counterparts in their hunt for All-Ireland football glory
AOIFE McCOY and the Armagh ladies do not have to look far for heroes to inspire their bid for TG4 All-Ireland SFC glory. On July 28 of last year, the county's men edged out history — and the first since a breakthrough success in 2002. 2 Aoife McCoy revealed Armagh are inspired by Armagh's men's All-Ireland final win over Galway 2 Armagh beat Galway in last year's Sam Maguire final Credit: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile In their 1-11 to 0-13 triumph at Eight days earlier, McCambridge's sisters Clodagh and Meabh featured alongside Mackin's sibling Blaithin — his other sister Aimee was missing through injury — as Armagh lost out to McCoy, who works from home in Lisburn as a software engineer, lined out at centre-half forward on that day in Tullamore. And as Armagh aim to go a couple of steps further in this year's Brendan Martin Cup, she acknowledges the lads' achievements can spur them on. Read More on LGFA She explained: 'I think plenty of people have said it. 'The boys winning the All-Ireland last year, not really realising it, but it has maybe been a good push for ourselves as well. It has just brought a lot of happiness and stuff to the county. 'I think for ourselves it probably has pushed us on. 'We have a lot of girls that have siblings that are involved in that panel. The likes of Clodagh and the Mackins and stuff like that. Most read in GAA Football 'Definitely you're trying to emulate that success. Even without knowing it, it probably has pushed us on that bit more too.' Despite Young Kerry LGFA fan steals the show with sign during All-Ireland final win over Galway McCoy and her Orchard colleagues will also be hoping to have booked a spot in the last eight of the Brendan Martin Cup by the time the final whistle sounds in their Group 3 clash with Should Armagh get the better of the Lilywhites this afternoon, they will join Meath — who they have drawn with in their sole group fixture to date — in the All-Ireland SFC quarter-finals on the weekend of July 5-6. The Orchard women could also potentially claim top spot ahead of a Meath side that secured a three-point victory against provincial rivals Kildare last weekend. But McCoy stressed the main focus will be on trying to get the better of the Lilywhites. PRIME FOCUS She said: 'A win will basically secure us a spot in the quarter-final and then after that, obviously we'd love to finish first in the group. 'To get that home quarter-final, that would be great. 'We'll be focusing really on a win first and then just take it from there to see how it goes. 'Kildare have obviously come into Division 1 this year and they've maintained their status there. 'In 2023 they won the intermediate, so they're a very good side. We played them earlier in the year down in Silverbridge. 'That was a home game for us. We had a very good performance that day, we were going pretty well in the league at the time, but they're a very good team and they have some quality players.' While McCoy has played in no fewer than six Football League finals since breaking on to the Armagh panel in 2014, her sole All-Ireland final appearance to date at adult level has been on the club scene. Although she hails from St Patrick's Dromintee GAC, McCoy had a previous spell with Shane O'Neills in Camlough at a point when her home club was not in a position to field a team. Joining her on this adopted side were fellow Dromintee footballers Shauna Grey and Katie Daly — and it was a productive time for the trio. After helping them to secure county and provincial honours, McCoy, Grey and Daly featured for Shane O'Neills in an AIB All-Ireland intermediate club championship final against Galway's Annaghdown at Parnell Park in December 2016. A superb 2-4 haul from Aimee Mackin was not enough to get the Armagh and Ulster champions past their Connacht opponents. But McCoy admitted reaching this showpiece was part of a great adventure with the Camlough outfit. She added: 'A great experience to say that you played in an All-Ireland club final and unfortunately we just couldn't get the result. 'But we probably couldn't have asked for a better club to be transferred to. It was a brilliant experience with a great group of girls.'
RTÉ News
an hour ago
- RTÉ News
Short border, long history: Storied Tipperary-Galway rivalry
It's not the longest border. Only 30km or so. And by land it measures just 12 metres, the width of the Portumna swing bridge. But there is no older inter-county hurling rivalry than Galway and Tipperary. The counties met in the very first All-Ireland final in April 1888 (actually the 1887 championship) when Tipp's representatives Thurles beat Galway's Meelick by 1-01 to no score in Birr, then known as Parsonstown. The teams had 21 players each and referee Patrick White presumably had little choice but to throw in the red sliotar and let the game flow. Though most reports reckon he sent off Meelick's John Lowry after an opponent retired injured, in the days before substitutes. The goal was scored by either Tommy Healy or Jim Healy. We salute & remember the Tipperary team (rep by Thurles) that defeated Galway (rep by Meelick) at Birr on this day, Easter Sunday, April 1st 1888 to win the 1st All Ireland Hurling Final which completed the 1887 Championship. Photo: Tipperary's GAA Story by Canon Philip Fogarty — Tipperary GAA (@TipperaryGAA) April 1, 2018 Travelling downriver from where Galway, Offaly and Tipperary meet – near Shannonbridge - Meelick-Eyrecourt, Killimor (authors of hurling's first rules in 1869) and Portumna GAA clubs all draw players just across the Shannon from Tipperary, until it widens into Lough Derg. On the east bank is Lorrha-Dorrha, home of Tony Reddin (actually a Galway man, who only transferred aged 28), Ken Hogan and Patrick 'Bonner' Maher. It was Galway's misfortune to be located in a province they dominated - Mayo (1909) and Roscommon (1913) won one Connacht SHC each when it was contested - and deprived of championship clashes with neighbours Clare and Offaly by those counties' lack of provincial success. Offaly didn't win Leinster until 1980. Galway's border with Clare is nearly three times as long as that with Tipperary but over the many decades that the Tribesmen played a maximum of two championship games per year, Clare didn't emerge from Munster too often. So both counties' 'anTippathy' grew stronger instead. It took the Tribesmen 36 years and nine (mostly semi-final) defeats before getting off the mark against Tipperary. Having lost the 1922 semi, delayed by the civil war until August 1923, Galway gained revenge at the same stage a year later (3-01 to 2-03), only to lose the 2024 final to Dublin, three months after beating Limerick for their first title. Tipp got their own back in the '25 decider, concluding what was to be the first epic trilogy between the counties on a 5-06 to 1-05 scoreline. There were only six more meetings over the subsequent 62 years and Tipperary won them all, including the All-Ireland of 1958, which was Galway's last final appearance until 1975, by which time the Premier had waned as a force in Munster. They also met in the 1961 Munster semi-final after what proved Galway's only victory (over Clare) in a decade-long relocation to the province. Leinster has proved a relatively happier hunting ground. If the Ulster hurling championship gets going again maybe they could make a guest appearance and complete the set? Galway had re-emerged as a force by the middle of the next decade and contested three All-Ireland finals in a row from 1979-81, bridging a 67-year gap in 1980, when the West was awoken. Tipp native Micheal 'Babs' Keating had been Galway coach to Farrell's trainer in '79 but was not part of the victorious setup the following year. The men in maroon were again runners-up in 1985-86, to Offaly and Cork, and were waiting hungrily after Tipperary captain Richie Stakelum declared 'The famine is over' in Babs' first championship season in '87. It was in Munster anyway. But though Nicky English scored the first point just nine seconds into the All-Ireland semi-final, Galway immediately hit back with a goal from Martin Naughton and led by four at half-time. Two majors from Pat Fox had Tipp ahead going into the closing stages but, following a contentiously disallowed English point, a goal from Éanna Ryan put Galway back in front and Noel Lane sealed the 3-20 to 2-17 victory. It was third time lucky on the big day as Galway beat Kilkenny by six, Lane again finding the net, and they defeated Offaly in the '88 semi-finals to seal a fourth consecutive final appearance. Their opponents were Tipp, playing their first final since 1971. Defences dominated this time, English and Fox being kept quiet as Galway edged it 1-15 to 0-14, and Lane scoring the sole goal in the final for the second year in a row. It remains the only time Galway have gone back to back. Closing stages of the 1988 All-Ireland Hurling final The rivalry had now been firmly rekindled. Babs felt his team had been roughed up in the final and publicly questioned Galway's tactics. Farrell bristled back. They met again in front of over 35,000 at Croke Park in the 1989 league final that April, Galway maintaining their superiority on a 2-16 to 4-08 scoreline. In Munster, the Premier then made it three in a row against surprise finalists Waterford but controversy overshadowed the All-Ireland semi-final rematch with the champions. The late Galway centre-back Tony Keady was the Hurler of the Year and had stayed on for a few weeks in New York after the All-Star tour in May. He played for the New York Laois club in a win over their Tipperary counterparts, and was reported and banned for two games in the Big Apple for playing under an assumed name - his brother Bernard's. When word reached Croke Park, however, the reigning Hurler of the Year was hit with a 12-month suspension for playing without clearance. Galway were scandalised as it seemed Keady was being made a rare example of for a common practice. It later emerged that Tipp defender Paul Delaney had done the same thing but escaped a ban. Farrell threatened to boycott the game if the ban wasn't lifted but the GAA's management committee voted 20-18 to uphold the decision, Tipperary's delegate voting in Keady's favour but some of Galway's Connacht neighbours opted to maintain the suspension. Keating described the subsequent match as "a nasty affair". Despite Keady's replacement Sean Tracey having a fine game, Galway were too fired up and referee John Denton sent off Sylvie Linnane and Michael 'Hopper' McGrath while John Leahy got away with a pull across Pete Finnerty, later admitting: "I was very lucky to stay on the field. I suppose the two of us bent the rules a small bit in our time. They were hard games." Finnerty reflected: "Nobody ever told John Leahy I didn't have a sister. Nowadays he might have been able to google it and find out' Tipp won 1-17 to 2-11, Éanna Ryan scoring both Galway goals but English hitting eight points. The Premier had 18 points to spare on Antrim in the final. There were further semi-final meetings in '91 and '93, Tipperary handing out a hammering on the way to regaining Liam MacCarthy in the former and a much-changed Galway getting revenge two years later. Then a seven-year gap to a first quarter-final and renewal of final hostilities in 2001: Tipp, managed by English, ended a 43-year wait for a final win against the Westerners, Mark O'Leary (2-01) and Eoin Kelly scoring seven apiece as they won 2-18 to 2-15, surviving a late, disallowed Kevin Broderick goal. There was only a point between them in 2003 (Tipperary), two in 2005 (Galway) and one again in the 2010 quarter-final when Tipperary went on to stop Kilkenny's five-in-a-row bid in the final after edging an electric contest 3-17 to 3-16. Tipperary did have nine to spare in a 2014 qualifier but that was only after a Seamus Callanan hat-trick spearheaded a late fightback from six down. Tipp were beaten by the Cats in a final replay. The next three years saw three classic All-Ireland semi-finals, each decided by a single point. Substitute Shane Maloney won it for Galway with his first touch in 2015, taking a Joe Canning pass to make it 0-26 to 3-16, Callanan scoring 3-09 for the losers. Anthony Cunningham's men lost the final to Kilkenny by four points. In 2016, Canning went off injured at half-time but Galway still led on the hour, before John McGrath set up sub John 'Bubbles' O'Dwyer for a goal and scored one himself as Tipp edged it 2-19 to 2-18. They beat Kilkenny by nine. Here's the moment that decided ANOTHER #GALvTIPP classic! Joe Canning's late point sent @Galway_GAA into the 2017 All-Ireland Hurling Final! — The GAA (@officialgaa) August 6, 2017 The following year was decided by a Canning wonder point (his 11th) five minutes into injury-time, Galway winning 0-22 to 1-18. They bridged a 29-year gap to All-Ireland glory in the final against Waterford. Galway have won both subsequent championship meetings. A quarter-final in 2020 – Aidan Harte the unlikely late goalscoring hero after reigning champions Tipperary had had Cathal Barrett sent off – and another in 2023, when the Tribesmen were on top throughout but had to survive a late scare to win by two points after hitting 18 wides. Their respective provincial displays to date make Tipperary favourites today but history tells us Galway will always raise their game at the sight of the blue and gold jersey.
