The FAI Cup Final is shaping up nicely.
The FAI has revealed that over 40,000 tickets have been sold ahead of this Sunday’s FAI Cup Final meeting between Derry City and Drogheda United.
Irish Football’s showpiece event has been a massive success in recent years with last year’s final between St Patrick’s Athletic and Bohemians breaking the attendance record with 43,881 fans.
With two non-Dublin clubs involved this year, there were some concerns that a Derry Vs Drogheda final would struggle to sell as well.
This, however, doesn’t seem to be the case with the association reporting that the Drogheda United section is almost entirely sold out, leaving only limited Derry tickets and a number of neutral tickets available on Ticketmaster.
Drogheda United made the final following a dramatic 3-2 win over Wexford, as an injury-time Adam Foley winner helped them reach the Aviva for the first time since 2013.
2022 champions Derry City, meanwhile, progressed to the final thanks to a Michael Duffy double in their 2-0 win over Bohemians at Dalymount Park.
It is a match of enormous consequence for Derry City as European football is taken from the fourth-placed team in the league table if the cup winner comes from outside the top four.
That means Drogheda – who could yet be relegated should they not overcome Bray in the play-off final – have the chance to snatch both the cup and UEFA Conference League football from the Candystripes’ hands.
“There’s no doubt about it, this club needs to be playing in European football, and we need to win the Cup to qualify for Europe,” underfire Derry manager Ruaidhri Higgins told the Independent.
“Our focus is on trying to win the game, we get European qualification and we get the FAI Cup, kill two birds with one stone.”
Limited tickets remain at fai.ie/tickets
