Updated, 14:19
ONE UNLUCKY IRISH fan who endured the classic pre-tournament nightmare – leaving his tickets behind him in the airport – will be reunited with his precious tickets in Poland later this evening.
Damian Coughlan, 23, from Knocklyon in Dublin left his tickets for all three of the Republic of Ireland’s Euro 2012 matches behind him while browsing in the Champion Sports outlet in the airport earlier today.
The tickets – which were issued in the name of his father, Oliver – were spotted by a staff member at the branch, Chris Brannigan, who immediately sought to find their owner.
“We contacted airport police straight away,” Brannigan said, “and though they called Mr Coughlan’s name three times over the intercom, he never contacted the store.”
It’s thought that Coughlan did not hear the announcements either because his flight had already taken off, or because he was not listening out for his father’s name.
This afternoon, however, a spokesman for Dublin Airport said the crisis was being solved – because word of the forgotten tickets had reached a friend of Damian’s, who will be able to bring them to Poland within a few hours.
“A friend of Damian’s is travelling out [to Poland] this evening, and he’s en route to pick up the tickets now,” the spokesman said.
“We’re thrilled to have been able to reunite Damian with his tickets,” he added. ”Particular thanks to the guys at Champion Sports for handing them in the first place!”
Brannigan had joked that the Champion Sports outlet had seen “a few people come in saying they’ll take the tickets to Poland with them and find Mr Coughlan,” but that airport police had advised them to keep the tickets for the time being.
Earlier, Dublin Airport had taken to Twitter to ask people interested in buying the tickets to stop calling them, as they were keen only to have the tickets handed over to their rightful owner.
Additional reporting by Gavan Reilly
As a Dub we have had some serious battles over the past 5 years with mayo and I don’t like them but I have huge admiration for them and there players. 50/50 next Saturday really looking forward to it.
It was a very good game, I don’t think the conditions had too much of an effect. Mayo surprised me big time, I sincerely thought they would not be at this stage of the championship after last years heartache but they are and they seem to be getting better with every game. If they had one more forward of the calibre of Moran they’d be very hard to beat. Kerry on the other hand had to rely on their vast experience to counter-act a sub-par performance, are they as bad as they were yesterday or was it just a blip? Anyway, hopefully the replay will be as good a game, look forward as a neutral to another enthralling game.
Interesting. The Kerry full back line looked like a herd of sheep going into a field for the first time. Maybe a billy could help them out instead of Tomas’ buddy.
Agree with some of the analysis but for me Mayo pushed up and hadnt the legs to get back to defend as we will see Tyrone and Dublin will filter back. I thought Moran was outstanding for Kerry. Its 50/50 for the replay but Mayo by one for me so the Dubs can beat them in another Final pg.
@Vinny Hughes: I didn’t know the other semi final was already played!
@Vinny Hughes:
Remember the red HAND OF ULSTER Vinny .your not there to beat anyone yet ,,,!!!!!!!’