Casement Park in line for major overhaul - 40,000 all seater Stadium.

[David McKeown]

Delighted to be wrong. Looking forward to it now.

[Rossfan]

Those with season tickets who miss out should be given the option of complementary tickets to the next round, simples

The ST doesn't include a free 1st Championship game any more.
If Corrigan is allowed hold 4,000 and Armagh have 3,500 ST holders then no problem.
Have Antrim any STs?

[Armaghtothebone]

Catch a grip lad would you! And no they not liable you clown!

Sorry. Didn't realise it was Wildweasel LLB KC.
Thanks for the reasoned argument!

[tiempo]

Those with season tickets who miss out should be given the option of complementary tickets to the next round, simples

The ST doesn't include a free 1st Championship game any more.
If Corrigan is allowed hold 4,000 and Armagh have 3,500 ST holders then no problem.
Have Antrim any STs?

It is a problem though as others are entitled tickets outside of season tickets, principally the players/mgmt and their families, sponsors and officers, the capacity won't meet the minimum across those groups

[armaghniac]

Those with season tickets who miss out should be given the option of complementary tickets to the next round, simples

The ST doesn't include a free 1st Championship game any more.
If Corrigan is allowed hold 4,000 and Armagh have 3,500 ST holders then no problem.
Have Antrim any STs?

It is a problem though as others are entitled tickets outside of season tickets, principally the players/mgmt and their families, sponsors and officers, the capacity won't meet the minimum across those groups

I wonder how far short are they, could some works in the ground squeeze in a few hundred more and get over the line.
As a first step I would suggest no tickets whatsoever for anyone involved in the decision to close Casement.

[David McKeown]

Those with season tickets who miss out should be given the option of complementary tickets to the next round, simples

The ST doesn't include a free 1st Championship game any more.
If Corrigan is allowed hold 4,000 and Armagh have 3,500 ST holders then no problem.
Have Antrim any STs?

It is a problem though as others are entitled tickets outside of season tickets, principally the players/mgmt and their families, sponsors and officers, the capacity won't meet the minimum across those groups

Some will be entitled by contract others by custom. Will be interesting to see which wins out.

[johnnycool]

Those with season tickets who miss out should be given the option of complementary tickets to the next round, simples

AI qualifiers?

[rodney trotter]

Armagh will win the win game. Look at the FA Cup big name teams going to smaller venues. The games aren't switched to suit a bigger support base.

[tonto1888]

I have seen some yappy Armagh fans on social media. Will the GAA compensate them the cost of a ticket to try and shut them up?

Playing the match in Corrigan is the right thing to do. All Ireland Champions in town and the GAA needs as much promotion as possible in Belfast (as a much as the ground isn't up to standard).

Given the balls up Ulster GAA made with Casement they owe Antrim this (and more!)

Think its only fair that season ticket holders who miss out are compensated in some way.

Tbh the vast majority of Armagh fans I've spoken to are in agreement with Antrims stance.

Why? They don't get the first game free anymore

[armaghniac]

I have seen some yappy Armagh fans on social media. Will the GAA compensate them the cost of a ticket to try and shut them up?

Playing the match in Corrigan is the right thing to do. All Ireland Champions in town and the GAA needs as much promotion as possible in Belfast (as a much as the ground isn't up to standard).

Given the balls up Ulster GAA made with Casement they owe Antrim this (and more!)

Think its only fair that season ticket holders who miss out are compensated in some way.

Tbh the vast majority of Armagh fans I've spoken to are in agreement with Antrims stance.

Why? They don't get the first game free anymore

The proposition of a season ticket is that it gives you the opportunity to buy a ticket for games. If you are denied that opportunity than some recognition is appropriate.

[Wildweasel74]

Used to get 1st game free, and i think £5 of qualifier games at the time. Decent enough until we dropped to div 3/4 where the season ticket wasn't value for money. Since moving up the divisions, the value of the ticket mot worth it anymore.

[David McKeown]

Used to get 1st game free, and i think £5 of qualifier games at the time. Decent enough until we dropped to div 3/4 where the season ticket wasn't value for money. Since moving up the divisions, the value of the ticket mot worth it anymore.

Yeah the season ticket is quite poor value these days for Div 1/2 teams. €150 for seven county games that your county play that would cost €140 and the league and club finals that may be of no interest.

The "value" in the ticket is the guarantee of being able to buy tickets going forward including the AI final if you meet the criteria.

[twohands!!!]

Jarlath really doing a banging job of giving the impression he's just sitting around waiting for his term to be over so Casement can be someone else's responsibility.

Having a meeting with Lyons on October 31st and then waiting until December 20th (seven weeks later) to send a letter about the meeting really puts the Amateur in GAA.

You'd almost think Jarlath was actively looking to give Lyons a way to run out the clock as much as possible.

Burns hits out at Northern Ireland minister over lack of effort with Casement reconstruction

"We are disappointed with how he has performed," said Burns following the GAA's Annual Congress in Donegal.
Burns hits out at Northern Ireland minister over lack of effort with Casement reconstruction

Sun, 23 Feb, 2025 - 06:00
John Fogarty
GAA president Jarlath Burns has strongly criticised Minister for Communities of Northern Ireland Gordon Lyons for his apparent lack of effort in advancing the reconstruction of Casement Park.

Burns spoke last week of being "impatient" with the delay in the process to develop the Belfast venue and insists it can be built for £260 million after it was removed from the Euro 2028 stadia list last September.

However, Burns has been left disillusioned by the lack of engagement from DUP politician since Halloween last year. "We are disappointed with how he has performed," said Burns following the GAA's Annual Congress in Donegal.

On October 31, Burns and a GAA delegation met with Lyons in Belfast where they called on him to consider three "action points" they had. The first was to write to UK Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Hilary Benn to request a meeting regarding their government's contribution to the project.

The second request was to put the matter of Casement Park on the agenda of the Northern Ireland Executive. The third was to identify areas where the Ulster Council could begin clearing the site.

On December 20, Burns wrote to Lyons seeking an update on the three requests.

"And I'm still waiting for a reply and it's now February 21," said the Armagh man.

"Just put that into context, the president of the biggest sporting organisation in Ireland is in contact through writing and he hasn't still received an acknowledgement that he wrote to the minister.

"If you compare that to [Irish Minister of State for Sport] Charlie McConalogue, who has just been appointed. I've now had two meetings with him. I was with him in Ballybofey and he came here to see me at Congress and we're meeting the Taoiseach [Micheál Martin] next week."

Burns added Lyons has yet to accept an invitation from the GAA to attend any football or hurling match.

"If you look at the success that the GAA has had in the last year in Ulster, and what we won, and he hasn't attended any of those.

"I understand that he's a (religious) difficulty attending games on a Sunday, but Armagh and Tyrone played Saturday night a week ago in front of 14,000 people. I don't know if he would know if it's on or not.

"So I don't want to be negative, we have to work with these people, but I also want to be realistic about what we're dealing with and how challenging the landscape is for us."

Burns added: "I wish I could be optimistic, but unfortunately it's really only pessimism on Casement at the moment."

Burns highlighted the support the GAA have received for the rebuild of Casement Park from the other Stormont parties. "The Alliance Party are fully behind it, SDLP, Sinn Féin, even the Ulster Unionists understand where it's coming from.

"Having said that, last week there was a series of signs (claiming the GAA to be the sporting wing of the IRA). Very, very insulting signs of the GAA went up in Randalstown. I'm sure you all saw them. Really threatening signs.

"Not one member of the Unionist politicians have condemned it or had anything to say on it so we are operating in a very hostile environment, there's no doubt about that. It's disappointing to say that because of all the work we do reaching out."

https://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/gaa/arid-41579935.html

[general_lee]

You'd almost think Jarlath was actively looking to give Lyons a way to run out the clock as much as possible.

Right let's hear it, you're appointed GAA president tomorrow morning. How do you go about dealing with some flid bible basher that thinks the earth is flat and dinosaurs never existed?

[twohands!!!]

You'd almost think Jarlath was actively looking to give Lyons a way to run out the clock as much as possible.

Right let's hear it, you're appointed GAA president tomorrow morning. How do you go about dealing with some flid bible basher that thinks the earth is flat and dinosaurs never existed?

Well I wouldn't f**king sit on my hands for months on end for a start.

Like initially when they met Lyons in October either get a confirmed date in the meeting when he would report back on the action he was to take or come out from the meeting and say to the press Lyons really needs to do his job on this as soon as possible but unfortunately he refused to provide us with any date as to when he would be providing an update on the meeting he we had. Send him the first letter after two week. Plague his office with multiple regular emails and phone calls looking for a response . Keep a detailed record of all communications and as a last resort tell him after two months that you would be providing all this to the press. Imagine how much stronger Jarlath's case would be if he was able to say - well we sent four letters since the meeting, eight emails and made 10 different phone calls to his office instead of a pathetic one letter.

Sitting around doing as close to feck all as possible was pretty much the dream scenario for Lyons.