Dublin airport sees fan exodus

Dublin Airport was packed from early this morning as thousands of fans left on charter flights for Ireland's match against Croatia in Poznan.

A total of 11 chartered and scheduled flights took off from the airport before 9am this morning, all full and all heading for Poland.

The bars were crowded by 6.30am and the tannoy system played regular blasts of the Italia '90 anthem Put 'Em Under Pressure.

A total of 146 flights will leave Dublin Airport between now and Ireland's final group game against Italy against Monday week.

The airport expects to transport some 20,000 fans to the tournament.

The FAI had anticipated that the Irish contingent would be 20,000 strong, but thousands of other fans are leaving from ferry ports and other airports.

There was bad news for one Irish fan in Poznan. He woke up on Saturday morning to find that all his belongings had been stolen from his campsite, including his prized match tickets. His mother rang RTÉ's Marian Finucane Show to warn fans to be more careful with their belongings.

The girlfriend of another Irish fan sent out a frantic internet alert after her boyfriend lost his match tickets on the train between Frankfurt and Poznan.

There was a happier end for Irish fan Damien Coughlan who was reunited on Friday evening with the tickets that he left at Champion Sports in Dublin Airport.