
Leinster GAA make 20,000 free hurling final tickets available to underage teams
The Leinster Council have made available 20,000 free tickets for underage teams to the senior hurling final on Sunday, June 8.
In a press release issued on Sunday afternoon, the council explained the initiative is part of Leinster GAA's 'ongoing commitment to youth participation and community engagement, providing young players with the opportunity to experience the excitement and atmosphere of Senior Hurling Championship match days.'
Eligible groups must consist of a minimum of 10 children (U14 or younger) and be accompanied by at least two supervising adults per group (one adult per 10 chilren). Applications have to be submitted before noon on Wednesday, June 4.
Leinster chairman Derek Kent said: 'This is a celebration of our young players and an investment in the future of our games. We want every child involved in GAA to feel connected to the bigger picture – to see our players in action, feel the energy of championship days, and be inspired their Hurling heroes. By offering 20,000 free tickets to our players, we're not only giving them a great day out – we're showing them they belong to something special.'
As part of their alternate agreement with the Munster Council, the Leinster final takes place on Sunday afternoon at 4pm this year, while the southern province's decider is scheduled for the evening previous (6pm).
Last year's Leinster final between Dublin and Kilkenny attracted a 35,484 crowd on a Saturday evening, but the previous year's decider involving The Cats and Galway held on a Sunday recorded a disappointing 24,483 attendance.

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RTÉ News
3 hours ago
- RTÉ News
Provincial hurling finals - All You Need to Know
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In 2020, they saw off Waterford before beating them again in the All-Ireland final. Cork are both the last Munster team to win the province before the Limerick supremacy arrived - and they're also the last side to beat Limerick in a Munster final, winning the last championship game played at the old Páirc Uí Chaoimh back in 2014 during Jimmy Barry Murphy's second stint in charge. Kilkenny's present domination of the Leinster hurling championship has attracted far less notice. Indeed, their achievement of the provincial five-in-a-row last year crept up on people. Partly, this is because Kilkenny dominance of Leinster has typically been the historical norm and partly because the province is much less glamorous. Even more so, it's down to their failure to back it up with a Liam MacCarthy, which, as Richie Hogan noted this week, is the only currency worth considering in Kilkenny. The run started in 2020, when they ended a four-year stretch without a Leinster title in an empty Croke Park, after pick-pocketing a generally superior Galway side down the home straight. The westerners looked comfortably the better team for an hour, maintaining a four-to-five point lead for most of the second half. Then Hogan, introduced as a late substitute, rustled up a truly ingenious goal, with Reid whipping in a second within a matter of seconds to turn the game on its head. They've beaten Galway in two more Leinster finals since then. Cody's last provincial victory in 2022 came after an unimaginably dull, free-ridden game. 2023 was another dramatic smash-and-grab. Henry Shefflin's Galway side appeared to have done enough with a stirring final quarter to lead by two in injury-time - until Padraic Mannion's panicked clearance with his boot found Cillian Buckley's paw and we know the rest. Even by the poor standards of your average Kilkenny-Dublin Leinster final, last year's provincial decider was a non-event. Cork aim to recover from "set-up" The blithe and gleeful confidence that settled over Cork in the wake of the league final is a distant memory. The 16-point mauling in the Gaelic Grounds was a shock to the system and a sobering reminder that the great Limerick side of the 2020s aren't close to being done. The Rebels were even threatened with elimination on the final day and produced a somewhat jittery performance at home to Waterford, in which their far greater attacking quality would eventually tell in the end. The Cork management have been angrily rounding on the hype-mongers since the loss in Limerick. Pat Ryan accused those who were writing off Limerick of being "off their game" and "setting us up for a fall." 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RTÉ News
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