The scramble for All-Ireland Football Final tickets has reached an unprecedented intensity in Mayo. One fan has paid £1,750 for a pair of stand tickets with a face value of £55.
The man was the top bidder when the tickets were auctioned for charity on the local radio station, MWR FM. The proceeds of the £30 Cusack stand ticket and £25 Hogan Stand pass will go to the Mayo Roscommon Cancer Hospice.
In Ballyhaunis gardai were said to be "keeping an eye" on the home of the Connacht GAA county secretary, Mr John Prenty, which has been besieged by ticket-seekers.
Sports shops in Kerry have been overwhelmed by the demand for green and gold jerseys.
Mr John O'Connor, manager of Garvey's Sports and Leisure in Dingle, said sales of replica jerseys of English soccer teams have suffered as young sports fans switch their allegiance.
"Some of the young people buying the jerseys would never have seen Kerry win an All-Ireland, but the hype this time is unbelievable. There was never such a demand for the county colours, even in the golden days of the late 1970s and early 1980s," Mr O'Connor said.
Over 700,000 people are expected to watch the match on RTE television, while another 100,000 will watch it in Britain and Europe.
The final will be screened by Setanta Sport at 500 sites in Europe, from France to Poland. A special feed has been arranged to the Wild Geese pub in Beirut for Irish troops serving in Lebanon.
Gardai warn fans from both counties that they will not be allowed in the vicinity of Croke Park with hand-held flares or klaxon horns.
A Garda spokesman acknowledged that the noise of klaxons as the teams walked out on the field was "part of the atmosphere" of an All-Ireland final, but said they were a serious nuisance to local residents and security personnel.
Iarnrod Eireann has announced that no tickets for Dublin will be available this weekend at rail stations in the south and west. Iarnrod Eireann will put every train in the system in service and will insist on boarding passes for all passengers departing from stations in Kerry and Limerick between Friday and Sunday on regular services, or travelling from Heuston Station to Kerry on Sunday evening.
