Programmes from the 1920s and 1930s are selling at auction for 2,000- 3,000. Earlier this year a winning medal from Roscommon's All Ireland football final in 1943 went for 20,000, while a ticket from the Tipperary v Dublin game on Bloody Sunday sold for 7,500.

Peter Geoffroy of Collectibles Corner oversaw this month's auction when a programme for the 1956 All Ireland football final sold for 300.

"It's a case of the older the better when it comes to memorabilia, " he says.

"Age makes a huge difference. Prices have really firmed up in the last two to three years. Three years ago that 1956 programme would have only raised a third of the price it gets today. Prices have rocketed. A programme from the 1940s or '50s will get several hundred euro."

While the previous sale realised 2,500 for a 1944 final programme, the real money is in All Ireland medals. Only 20 medals would have been awarded each year, while thousands of programmes were sold.

Two years ago, a medal from the very first All Ireland football final in 1887 between Limerick and Dublin sold for over 20,000. There isn't quite the same demand when it comes to famous jerseys, (such as Christy Ring's, right) actual physical replicas of those historic days.

"Programmes seem to catch the imagination more than artefacts. There's not such a market in Ireland for jerseys. Even in the UK, it's international soccer caps that got for a lot, jerseys not so much, " says Geoffroy.

Unfortunately it's probably too late to begin hoarding today. The cut-off point to see real value is the mid-70s. Programmes from the 1980s and '90s, although collectible, are still quite easily available.

Collectibles Corner will hold its next auction at the beginning of December.