Sport
Opinion: Unfair FAI ticket policy is anti-culchie discrimination
by Adam Moynihan
As a conscientious father, I feel it is my duty to teach my son how to be humble. With that in mind, I decided to take him to his first Ireland football match.
The friendly international against Belgium last Saturday evening seemed like a good option. So, I went about booking the trip from Killarney to Dublin.
Match tickets wouldn’t be a problem, I thought, so I checked out the train and accommodation first. Irish Rail wanted €83 for the two of us. Bit steep, maybe, but nothing new there. The hotel would set us back €150 a night. I had to go with two nights in the end because the early trains were booked out on the Saturday. That’s €383.
Add in food and a mandatory trip to the Disney Store on Grafton Street and it would be an expensive weekend. But the life lesson would be worth it.
As it turned out, the match tickets would be a problem. Not because they were sold out, but because the FAI released tickets for Saturday's Belgium match as part of a ‘duo’ package with the Switzerland match the following Tuesday. If you wanted to purchase a ticket for the first, you had to purchase a ticket for the second. No exceptions.
The duo ticket was advertised as €70 for adults and €50 for under 16s. That’s €120 for an adult plus a child for the two games. But their advertising was misleading; adult tickets were, indeed, €70, but when you went to Ticketmaster and tried to buy a child ticket and an adult ticket together, all the adult options were €100. So it was actually €150 for an adult and a child for two games.
And it was effectively €150 for one game in my case as I only wanted to take him to the Belgium fixture.
Do they really expect anyone from the western half of the country to travel to the capital twice in four days, or to stay up and take a five-day holiday, just to see two 90-minute football matches? Two meaningless friendlies, by the way. Under an interim manager. With no tournament on the horizon, and no fixtures of any significance for another four months.
Clearly the duo package was made with Dubliners in mind. It is completely useless to the rest of us so making it mandatory is really nothing short of anti-culchie discrimination.
It’s easy to imagine FAI CEO Jonathan Hill paraphrasing that cracker factory boss in The Simpsons. “Maybe people outside of Dublin like football. We don’t know. Frankly, we don’t want to know. It’s a market we can do without.”
The bizarre policy isn’t even fair to Dubliners, really. Why should they have to pay for both games when they might only want to go to one? Who knows, maybe they can only afford to go to one. Being alive is expensive business these days.
I've seen one or two people suggest that you could always buy the duo ticket and sell the one you don't want. Why should fans be selling tickets on the FAI's behalf? Surely that's their job?
Single tickets for the Switzerland game did come out after the Belgium game. But what good is that to people who felt pressured into getting the duo ticket?
To me it looks like a cash-grab by the FAI, who will probably say that their goal is to boost attendances rather than to grab cash. Well, there were 13,000 empty seats on Saturday and 18,000 on Tuesday. (Those are the official numbers, anyway.)
If that's what attendances look like after a boost then I'd hate to see them without one.
In the end, my son and I did manage to make it to Ireland v Belgium. I had no intention of paying for the duo ticket but fortunately, after I complained about the policy on Twitter, a friendly stranger offered me the use of his family season pass as he couldn’t go. I got very lucky. I’m sure many others who wanted to attend simply couldn’t.
As for the game itself, Ireland missed a penalty, it finished 0-0 and, yes, I do believe my son came home a slightly humbler young man.
I didn’t bother explaining the whole duo ticket fiasco to him, or that the FAI don't seem to care about simple country folk like us. That's another lesson for another day.
Sport
Jack O’Connor’s Kerry squad is looking deeper and stronger (but the proof will be in the eating)
As we reach the midway point of the 2025 season, Adam Moynihan takes a close look at Kerry’s strength in depth
As the Kerry players, management team and backroom staff huddled together for a photo with the Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh Cup in front of the Hogan Stand, one of the photographers raised his fist in the air, trying to illicit something resembling a celebratory scene. No joy.
Victory over Mayo had been secured in convincing enough fashion but winning the league has never been grounds for buoyant celebrations as far as Kerry are concerned. Retaining Division 1 status and unearthing some new talent is generally enough to tick the springtime box ahead of the serious business of the championship. Once that has been achieved, anything else is gravy.
Going by the disappointing loss to Armagh in last year’s All-Ireland semi-final, the need for new blood was especially great heading into the 2025 season. The team faded badly down the stretch and into extra time against the Orchard County with overdependence on core players glaringly obvious. It wasn’t the only reason they lost but Kerry simply didn’t get enough from their supporting cast on the day.
With that in mind, Jack O’Connor knew he had to work on the depth of his squad during this league campaign, and you’d have to say he made a pretty good fist of it.
Starting in goal, the situation here is clear with Shane Murphy providing back-up to Shane Ryan.
Moving out the field, in recent years Kerry have generally gone with Jason Foley at full back, Tom O’Sullivan at left corner back, and one of Paul Murphy or Graham O’Sullivan at right corner back.
After making his debut in the league in 2024, Damien Bourke has emerged as a genuine right corner back alternative with some strong performances that have vastly enhanced his reputation. Not many Kerry players came out of the Dublin defeat with extra credit to their name but Bourke was brave and tenacious, bursting out of defence and using the ball wisely. He was replaced as a starter by the experienced Murphy in later rounds but the Tralee man capped his league with a goal off the bench against Galway in Salthill.
Dylan Casey also got extended game time in the absence of Tom O’Sullivan and he acquitted himself professionally. He has a solid head on his shoulders and you get the impression that Jack O’Connor would now be comfortable throwing him into any given situation without hesitation.
The versatile Graham O’Sullivan is also an option at corner back and it looks like he’ll need to slot in somewhere other than his natural position of half back as Brian Ó Beaglaoich and Gavin White are nailed on starters at 5 and 7. O’Sullivan lined out at half forward against Galway and Mayo, underlining his flexibility and importance to the team.
There could be a changing of the guard taking place at centre back with Mike Breen seemingly shaking off the injury woes that have held back his progress with Kerry to date. With regular number 6 Tadhg Morley unavailable for selection for most of the league, Breen slotted seamlessly into that crucial central role, and he looked really confident against Mayo on Sunday. As things stand, Morley will be doing well to displace Breen but either way Kerry should have two good centre back options heading into the summer months.
Midfield has been a head scratcher for Kerry for a number of years but in Diarmuid O’Connor and Joe O’Connor they appear to have found a winning combination. Diarmuid was playing the best football of his career up to his injury against Armagh in Round 6 so getting his shoulder right for championship is of paramount importance to Kerry’s chances.
Joe is a guaranteed starter too but his assured display at wing forward against Armagh was interesting in that it opens the door for a third midfielder to start. Seán O’Brien and Barry Dan O’Sullivan both applied themselves admirably when called upon in the league and the manager should feel like he can trust them more now than he did 12 months ago.
Joe O’Connor’s arrival as a half forward candidate has improved Kerry’s options to the extent that it’s difficult to predict how they will line out from 10 to 12 in the Munster Championship. Micheál Burns has done quite well upon his reintroduction to the team after being dropped from the panel in 2024, and Paudie Clifford is looking sharp at centre forward. Tony Brosnan and Dylan Geaney are options along this line too, although Dylan has been operating as a withdrawn inside forward to date – a role Tony is also capable of playing.
Of course, Seánie O’Shea will have to fit in somewhere in this department when he fully recuperates from his knee ligament injury, so it will be interesting to see how Jack O’Connor works this conundrum out. File under ‘good problems’.
Dara Moynihan is still recovering from a hip injury and has not yet featured in 2025. He would naturally be an option at 10 if he can get back up to speed. Meanwhile, Darragh Lyne, Ruairí Murphy and Cathal Ó Beaglaoich all featured at half forward in the league.
David Clifford and Paul Geaney will play at 13 and 14 with Dylan Geaney in pole position to start at 15 on the back of a really good run of form, perhaps excepting the league final in which he was relatively quiet. Tony Brosnan is a prime candidate to challenge Dylan for that spot; the Dr Crokes player has kicked some fantastic scores in each of his last three appearances as a substitute.
As for out-and-out inside forwards, Conor Geaney and Killian Spillane are likely to be used as impact subs.
All told Kerry do appear to have better depth than they had last year, particularly with the emergence of second season players like Bourke, O’Brien and Dylan Geaney as legitimate options, and with Breen beginning to fulfil his potential. Burns’ comeback and Joe O’Connor’s newfound ability to play the 12 position also help.
As always, though, the proof will be in the eating. We will have to wait for the suffocating heat of do-or-die championship matches to find out if this squad is as deep and dependable as it looks on paper.
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