The Leinster Council has decided against reducing their ticket prices for this year's championship matches, despite the economic downturn. However, the provincial body has gone some way towards appeasing cash-strapped supporters by announcing unlimited family tickets for all of their upcoming games. With the footballers of Louth and Carlow getting the championship underway on Sunday, Leinster Council secretary Michael Delaney is confident that the recession won't impact on attendance figures. "We discussed ticket prices from the very outset of this year's championship," he explained. "What we decided to do was keep them at the same level as last year, but to make a lot more family tickets available. "In other years we would only have had a couple of thousand family tickets available, but this year that number is effectively unlimited. We have also increased the number of group passes, where under-16s get in at cut-price, and for every group of 10, one adult is admitted free. They're aimed primarily at clubs and schools but the overall idea is to make the championship match a family event as much as possible." Similar to last year, standard ticket prices will increase as the championship progresses. Sunday's opener between Carlow and Louth - a stand-alone fixture in Parnell Park - sees stand tickets priced at 20. Double-bill matches, including the Dublin-Meath football tie and Dublin-Antrim hurling tie in Croke Park on June 7, sees stand tickets priced at 25. Leinster semi-final stand tickets are priced at 30 and Leinster final stand tickets are priced at 35. Family tickets are based on one adult and two children, and vary in price from the 15/3 for this Sunday's opening game, to the 25/5 for the Croke Park double-bill on June 7. Usual student, senior citizen and terrace prices still apply. Allaying fears that attendance figures will be down on previous years, the Laois man went on to say: "I think at this stage any talk of a fall-off in attendances is only speculation. Certainly, from the number of calls we've taken inquiring about tickets for the Dublin-Meath game, it would appear interest is as high as it's ever been. And when you get to the Leinster semi-final stage you would always expect there to be big demand as well. "So we wouldn't be too worried, not from an attendance point of view. It may be that if one of the smaller populated counties starts progressing then you might see a fall off, simply because those counties wouldn't be as well supported. But the likes of Dublin and Meath will always bring out big crowds. There is a big buzz around Kildare as well this year and they're also one of the traditionally better supported counties." Tweet

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