"It's very disappointing how tickets were handed out"

Waterford county board chairman Neil Moore is disappointed with how tickets were handed out for Sunday's hurling league finals at Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

The Déise will face Offaly in the 1B decider at 1.45 followed by Cork versus Tipperary in the 1A showdown at 4 o'clock. Tickets were released online last week and sold out within 24 hours.

"It's very disappointing. Not alone for ourselves in Waterford but I know Offaly, Tipperary and Cork are disappointed with the ticketing and the way it was handled. We would have preferred that each county got an allocation. There was a fortnight into the league final. There was no reason why each county couldn't have got a couple of thousand tickets to look after their genuine supporters through the clubs. Anything that clubs didn't sell, could still have gone up online."

The county board expressed their dismay to Croke Park last week. "Ourselves and Offaly made representations to Croke Park. Pat Flynn (county board secretary) sent a letter to Tom Ryan (GAA Director General). In fairness to Tom, he came back and spoke to Pat. They apologised for the way it was handled. With Cork at home, there was going to be a massive demand for this fixture. It is very disappointing that a lot of our genuine supporters, it was great to see them up in Corrigan Park in Belfast and Mullingar during the National League, can't get tickets for the final."

A standalone fixture wasn't discussed. Waterford manager Peter Queally argued last week that Nowlan Park would have been a suitable venue. "There was never anything mentioned to us about that," Moore stated. "Once the tickets went on sale and people had them bought, it was impractical to take tickets back off people. Logistically, I don't think it was possible."