THE Ulster final will be played at Croke Park for the sixth time in history when Tyrone and Monaghan face off on Saturday week.

The last time the provincial showdown was held at GAA headquarters was in the period between 2004 and 2006 (twice in 2005 as the game went to a replay), and you have to go all the way to 1939 for the first time it was played in Croker (on that occasion, Cavan beating Armagh in an Ulster final replay).

This year’s final has been switched to Croke Park following a request from Ulster GAA in order to facilitate more supporters.

The official capacity has been limited to 18,000, but Ulster GAA expect that thousands of tickets may remain unsold as tickets are being sold in pods of up to groups of five.

GAA Club members in Tyrone will now receive tickets directly to their email after requesting them through their club secretary with ticket pods of two, three, four or five being made available for the match next Saturday. However, it is understood any groups of tickets requestion that fall short of the maximum pod of five willl remain unsold.

Tyrone GAA PRO Eugene McConnell said the new system has been put in place to streamline the process and to ensure health and safety procedures are followed.

“From the clubs’ point of view they will have to compile the requests along with the email of the club member who has requested them.

“The current tasks of the club secretary having to collect tickets and distribute them to members the correlation of all the payments – that has been removed.”