Latest: Organisers 'absolutely thrilled' after 38,000 tickets sold for Liam Miller match

Organisers of the Liam Miller Tribute Match have reported strong ticket sales with approximately 31,000 tickets sold today.

Latest: Organisers 'absolutely thrilled' after 38,000 tickets sold for Liam Miller match

Update 6.15pm: Organisers of the Liam Miller Tribute Match have reported strong ticket sales with approximately 31,000 tickets sold today.

The 31,000 tickets have been sold in eight hours bringing the total of tickets sold so far to 38,000.

Speaking about the number of tickets sold today, Michael O’Flynn, Chairman of the Organising Committee, said, "We are absolutely thrilled at the fantastic level of ticket sales today.

This will be a wonderful tribute to the late Liam Miller, with a host of footballing superstars lining out in Páirc Uí Chaoimh on 25 September for a very special game of football.

"We are very grateful to the GAA for making this wonderful venue available to us, and we hope that more and more people will buy the remaining tickets and make it a full house on the day."

Stand tickets are no longer available but tickets for the terraces are still on sale online at tickets.ie and from selected Supervalu and Centra stores nationwide.

Earlier: Organisers apologise for website crash as 25,000 tickets sold for Liam Miller match

Organisers of the Liam Miller Tribute Match have said that tickets have been selling well with approximately 25,000 tickets sold.

Organisers have apologised to fans who had difficulty obtaining tickets from tickets.ie this morning.

"The issued was caused by the high volume of people logging on to the site. The problem has now been fixed and the website is running normally," a statement from organisers said.

Stand tickets are no longer available but there are tickets still available for the terraces.

Tickets are available online and from selected Supervalu and Centra stores nationwide.

Earlier: Keane: GAA deserves credit for opening Páirc for Liam Miller match; Website crashes as people rush to buy tickets

An hour after tickets were due to go on sale, tickets.ie is back online.

However, users can expect a wait time as there are thousands of people in the queue for tickets.

Earlier: Roy Keane says the GAA deserve credit for opening Páirc Uí Chaoimh for the Liam Miller Tribute match.

Tickets went on sale this morning for next month's charity game between Ireland, Celtic and Manchester United legends.

The Association came in for criticism for turning down an initial request to host the game.

Keane hopes there is strong reaction following the GAA's change of heart.

"I know people were upset about it and very emotional about it and people vented their frustration about it at the GAA," said Keane.

"But listen, we got there eventually and the GAA deserve credit for that.

"We just hope now that the people who were upset that they couldn't get tickets will now buy a ticket and turn up and celebrate Liam's career."

Tickets were due to go on sale at 10am on tickets.ie but users have reported that the website has crashed.

Property developer, Michael O'Flynn, who is one of the organisers of the event said that they were delighted with the response so far.

"You can imagine with 10,000 people going online at the same time (that this would happen). This is a really good sign."

Mr O'Flynn is a neighbour of the Miller family and knew Liam when he was growing up.

He said if Liam had not played football he could have been a success in the world of GAA.

"A lot of people in our parish and parishes in Mid Cork remember him as an exceptional GAA player. I saw him playing with Eire Og myself.

"He would have played in the jersey in both codes. It is fascinating how good he was at that age."

The game was originally supposed to be played at Turners Cross in Cork but after much controversy the GAA allowed organisers to play it at Páirc Uí Chaoimh which will allow for the sale of an additional 38,000 tickets.

The 7,000 fans who purchased tickets for the match will now see their payments transferred to the new stadium.

The Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr Mick Finn has said what better way to move on from all the controversy about the venue than to fill the new Pairc on September 25th for the event.

He also reiterated his congratulations to the GAA for facilitating the game at Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

The match will see Manchester United Legends XI take on Celtic/Republic of Ireland legends in Páirc Uí Chaoimh in in Cork next month.

The Manchester United legends team includes manager Roy Keane and former players Ryan Giggs, Louis Saha, Rio Ferdinand, Gary Neville and Nicky Butt.

The Celtic/Ireland legends line up managed by Martin O'Neill will feature amongst others Robbie Keane, Damien Duff, Neil Lennon, Kevin Kilbane and Richard Dunne.

At a press briefing last week Roy Keane said it was his hope that the players would be match fit.

In a lighthearted moment he revealed that his former team mate Paul Scholes had let himself go a little from his prime.

Asked if he ever played in Pairc Ui Chaoimh as a youngster he said that he hadn't had the privilege but that he had run at a city sports event onsite as a young boy.

Sadly he says that he didn't win as though he was considered fast in his primary school he found that he was "average" when pitched from schoolboys around the city.

Roy Keane said he was looking forward to catching up with his former team mates.

"You go through the list. Brilliant players. And I will be honest from a selfish point of view I am looking forward to meeting up with them because we had some great days together.

"They are still my team mates and that is why we are here to pay our respects to Liam. Liam is still our team mate. And that is why the response has been fantastic. We are all looking forward to it."

Digital Desk

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