Football fever has gripped Galway during festival season as Padraic Joyce’s men bid for All-Ireland glory on Sunday week – hopes are high the Tribesmen can earn their tenth senior title providing a fireworks finale to the Arts Festival and triumphant start to Race Week.

The uniqueness of the final pairing – Galway and Armagh have never locked horns in a championship decider; the attractiveness of the football both sides play; and the absence of ‘the big two’ football counties Kerry and Dublin, has fuelled demand for tickets.

Chances of swopping All-Ireland Senior Hurling Final tickets for football final tickets are said to be remote, as the Cork-Clare clash this weekend could sell out three times over, demand was so high.

Galway GAA Chairperson Paul Bellew confirmed to the Galway City Tribune that the county had received just shy of 17,000 tickets for the final on July 28, on a par with the allocation for the Galway-Kerry decider in 2022.

“We start the distribution of tickets to the clubs, officer corps, committees, referees, and ground stewards over the next 48 hours. Demand is much bigger than two years ago.

“Demand is extremely high, more than expected. We’re going to be under pressure. We will do our very best but it’s going to be a scramble for the next week or so.

“The demand from neutrals is going to be massive. It’s the same with the hurling final – I’ve never seen demand for hurling tickets like for Clare and Cork, from those counties, but also from people in Galway interested in going. I think we are going to have the same situation with football in other counties, which means any dependence on returns from neutral counties is low to none,” said Bellew.

When the final whistle sounded last Sunday, confirming Galway’s 1-14 to 0-15 semi-final win over Donegal, the Saw Doctors’ joyous anthem N17  filled Croke Park and sparked scenes of wild celebration.

“We’ve given supporters great days, but I’ve never seen anything like Sunday in terms of a Galway crowd. The support was truly exceptional. Armagh the day before, I was at it, and it was extremely impressive, but Galway matched every bit of that on Sunday. It’s the first time I’ve seen pre-final levels of excitement like it. That’s the way it should always be and it helped the team massively. Padraic (Joyce) mentioned it himself, it really does help you get over the line and there’ll be no shortage of support again for the final,” said Bellew.

Ahead of throw in last Sunday, Galway’s starting team lined out in a V formation during the national anthem, after a tribute to the late John O’Mahony was played on the big screen for 67,002 spectators at GAA HQ, and those watching at home on television.

Afterwards official man-of-the-match Dylan McHugh explained it represented a ‘Vanguard’, a nod to how the Mayo man was ahead of his time when he guided Galway to two All-Ireland titles in 1998 and 2001.

Pictured: Galway manager Padraig Joyce embraces Cillian McDaid after Galway secured their place in the All-Ireland Football Final.