Irish Cup final: Glentoran want temporary seats at decider

The IFA announced The Oval as the venue for this year's Irish Cup Final

Glentoran have asked the Irish FA about the possibility of installing temporary seating at the Oval for the Irish Cup Final against Portadown.

With Windsor Park closed because of health and safety issues, the final has been moved to the Oval but that venue only has a 6,000 capacity.

Glentoran chairman Stephen Henderson has confirmed that the club has approached the IFA on the issue.

"We are liaising with the Irish FA," Henderson told the News Letter.

"We took around 6,000 fans to the final two years ago and we would expect more this year.

"We have to assess what the demand could be. We don't want to install a lot of seating that it not used."

It has also emerged that the two clubs will now handle the sale of all tickets for the 2 May final as opposed to Ticketmaster.

There were fears that the previous arrangements could increase the possibility of crowd trouble at the game with rival fans possibly ending up in the same parts of the ground.

The final was moved from Windsor Park to the Oval because of cracks in the structure of the West Stand at the South Belfast stadium.