The scramble for tickets for tomorrow's All-Ireland final has forced gardai to close the road leading to the home of the Galway hurling board secretary. Mr Phelim Murphy has been virtually under siege from supporters all week.
Up to 50 cars at a time have been parked near Mr Murphy's home in Turloughmore, as fans queue in the hope that elusive tickets will become available as more are returned from neutral counties.
Such was the congestion on the road that gardai had to close it to traffic by Wednesday morning. The number of cars parked in the area affected the flow of traffic over half a mile away on the main Galway to Roscommon road.
Some clubs have expressed dismay after receiving just 20 tickets for the final.
It is Galway's first appearance in a senior hurling final since 1993. Interest has been intensified this year because Galway are hoping to emulate Cork's achievement of 1890 and 1990 by winning both the football and hurling titles in the same year. The minor hurlers are also hoping to become the first team from the county to win three titles in a row in the curtainraiser, against Cork.
A total of 1,000 tickets for two special trains from Galway sold out in just over an hour of going on sale last Wednesday. Galway's footballers may have stolen the limelight from the hurlers in recent years but houses, cars and offices throughout the county are bedecked in maroon and white during the build-up to the two finals.
The pressure to obtain tickets has been such that the manager, Mr Noel Lane, issued a statement asking supporters to allow the team to get on with their preparations for the game and stop harassing players.
He said he was keenly aware of the ticket shortage, but he asked fans not to hamper the team's preparations by "harassing" the players for tickets.
With space for 68,000 fans in Croke Park, it is estimated that Galway received 12,000 tickets (9,000 for the senior and 3,000 for the minor finals), while Tipperary have 9,000. This goes nowhere near meeting the demand in either county.
Fans will have to go through the same routine again in two weeks, when Galway take on Meath in the football final.
The chairman of the football board, Mr Pat Egan, said: "It's been a marvellous year so far. To have two teams involved in senior All-Ireland finals is a fantastic boost, and I hope the hurlers will pull off the first leg of the big double on Sunday."
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