Derry City fans on course to break FAI Cup Final record!

Derry City fans are on course to break their own FAI Cup final attendance record such has been the demand for tickets ahead of the game against Shelbourne at the Aviva Stadium on November 13.

Ahead of the club’s first FAI Cup final in eight years, ticket sales have been relentless, with the governing body announcing over the weekend that between both clubs, over 20,000 tickets have already been sold.

With two weeks still to go until the game, the feeling within the club is that the club is well on course to have their largest ever number of fans at an FAI Cup final in what will be the club’s 11th appearance.

“The buzz around the town has been phenomenal in the last couple of weeks ever since we reached the final,” Director Robert Martin confirmed. “There was a huge demand for tickets from day one and hopefully it keeps going for the next couple of weeks and we get our best ever turn out at a cup final.

“By all accounts we have already surpassed what we took to the cup finals against S. Pat’s in 2012 and 2014. I can’t remember the figure going back to 2008 but there definitely seems to be a bigger sell this time, especially so well in advance.”

The demand for Derry City tickets throughout this season is indicative of the good feeling around the club at present, with expectations amongst the fans rising ever since Ruaidhri Higgins arrived as manager last April. With every home game in 2022 selling out, it is clear that fans want to see Derry City in action.

“Every match this season we’ve had to turn people away because there were capacity issues and that in itself creates more demand around the city,” Martin continued. “The buzz around the FAI Cup final in itself combined with the demand for tickets is just creating something that I don’t ever remember in 30-odd years.

“There is a great buzz about it since Ruaidhri has come in and that, as well as new players coming and other players returning back to the club, and having a full season filled to capacity without playing behind closed doors, just created that buzz, and thankfully everything went well on the pitch to coincide with it.”

Anticipation

Come the weekend of November 13, thousands of Derry City fans are set to make their way to Dublin for the club’s first big day out since 2014, and Martin believes that the sheer thrill of the occasion is part of the attraction this time around, especially given that fans only returned to football stadiums in full just over a year ago.

“There was the pandemic in the last couple of years and the couple of cup matches we had were played away from home,” Martin recalled. “This year we were fortunate enough to get home draws on the journey to the final and we had some tough ones there, particularly against Shamrock Rovers and that created the buzz and momentum on its own I think, with so many people being able to see them. I think also, since it is actually eight years since we’ve been at the Aviva, a lot of our young supporters won’t remember or won’t have been to a cup final involving Derry, so it’s a first time for them and that adds to the excitement as well.”

The Derry City office has been inundated with ticket enquiries ever sine the semi-final victory over Treaty United, with Martin expecting even more in the final two weeks before the big game.  

“The first week when they went on sale, we had loads and loads of requests about them because people didn’t understand that they weren’t been sold though the club,” he said. “We were able to signpost people towards Ticketmaster and the FAI and it finally seems to have quietened down this week and hopefully the majority of people have now got sorted for tickets.”