Your probably right, a mate of mine has done that many years. That said, I think he said last year that he literally had given up about 10 mins before the game and just got lucky in that some guy came up to him and said he had a spare for face value. Thanks for the reply mate!
Saw another thread on this last week - you might get some help from the lads on here: http://www.irishkop.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11061&highlight=hurling
Should be pick up a hill ticket on the day if you really want one or at worst a nally terrace. Get into Quinns early there's usually a few knocking around.
If you don't manage to get a ticket on the day your best bet for one might be from the Gardai. Two years ago, two of my cousins from Kerry were up for the final and had no tickets. I dropped them to Croker about 1pm and they started their hunt for tickets but had no joy. They were standing across from quinns at the entrance to Clonliffe Road asking anybody that moved if they had any spare tickets. About 10 mins before throw in when most of the crowd were gone in a Garda walked over to them and said I've been watching you looking for tickets for the past two hours. He told them he didn't like seeing genuine fans not getting tickets and took a few tickets out of his pocket. He told them he'd confiscated them from a tout earlier in the day and he gave them the tickets for nothing!