Sunday's Leinster football final between Meath and Louth looks set to draw an attendance in excess of 50,000 in what would be the best attended final since 2017.
Meath’s shock semi-final victory over Dublin has given a shot in the arm to the showpiece in the Leinster calendar after years of dominance from the boys in blue.
The 2024 decider, where Dublin reeled in a 14th consecutive provincial title in seeing off Louth, saw just 23,113 file through the turnstiles, as the downward trajectory of ticket sales hit a new modern low.
The novel pairing of Louth and Meath – who have only met in the final on three previous occasions, including the highly controversial 2010 encounter where Meath prevailed by two points with a goal from Joe Sheridan that should not have stood – has had the expected impact on ticket sales.
The Leinster Council has confirmed that more than 40,000 tickets have already been sold, a figure that does not include 8,000 premium seats that are expected to be taken up.
It means that an attendance in excess of 50,000 is expected, eclipsing the 48, 875 that saw Louth undone in the 2010 decider.
It will also be the biggest Leinster football final attendance since 2017 when 66,734 watched a Con O’Callaghan-inspired Dublin finish with nine points to spare over Kildare.
Meanwhile, Saturday evening’s Ulster football final between Donegal and Armagh in Clones is a 29,000 sell-out.
Watch the Leinster Football Championship final, Meath v Louth, on Sunday from 3.45pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1.
