The GAA have confirmed that two of the headline games on the opening weekend of the new Sam Maguire round-robin phase, the weekend after next, will only be broadcast on the GAAGo paid subscription platform.
This includes the meeting of Kerry against Mayo, in Killarney, and also the meeting of Galway against Tyrone in Salthill, both games now fixed for Saturday week.
There are however headline hurling games set for live broadcast that same weekend on RTÉ, Kilkenny against Dublin on the Saturday, before Clare against Cork, and Limerick against Tipperary on the Sunday.
The GAA has faced some criticism for its GAAGO paid platform of late, Cork’s All-Ireland winning goalkeeper Donal Og Cusack addressing the scheduling abomination that has seen the three best hurling games of the year so far appearing on GAAGO, the streaming service co-owned by the GAA and RTÉ, rather than free-to-air on RTÉ's terrestrial channels.
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Starting with the classic Clare versus Tipperary game in Ennis, on the opening weekend of the hurling championship, the sequence carried on to the epic Clare-Limerick game in the Gaelic Grounds six days later, and the bewitching Cork-Tipperary game in Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Saturday night.
Earlier on Monday, Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin told RTÉ that all GAA games should be shown free-to-air.
“That is a personal view that I have had for a long, long time,” said Martin, “and it is the game of hurling that has lost the most in my view because hurling at its best is simply a classic,” he said.
“Irrespective of anyone’s preference for any particular code of sport, everyone loves to watch a great game of hurling. We have had two classics already now in terms of the Clare-Limerick game and the Cork-Tipp game and it just seems that a significant audience didn’t get access to that, didn’t see hurling at its best.
“Anybody who was in Páirc Uí Chaoimh as I was on Saturday night, it was just one of those occasions – sun-drenched, a beautiful new stadium and a great game of hurling between Cork and Tipperary.”
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The Tailteann Cup, which starts a week earlier than the Sam Maguire, features three teams that would have been in the Sam Maguire under last year’s format – Meath, Cavan and Fermanagh.
GAA president Larry McCarthy formally launched the second year of the new Tailteann Cup in Croke Park on Monday, Westmeath beating Cavan in the inaugural decider last summer, the 16 team competition getting under way this weekend.
The 16 teams seeded are based on their league position into four groups of four: the top teams in each group automatically advance to the quarter-final knockout stages. The four second placed teams go to preliminary quarterfinals where they are joined by the three best third placed teams along with New York.
“We are confident the Tailteann Cup will grow and grow but we are also not complacent,” McCarthy said. “And as I have said before about being wary of a sophomore slump, we are determined to ensure that we build further on the excellent foundation laid in the Tailteann Cup last summer and see even more progress made this year.
“That success is built on our commitment to its marketing and promotion, the use of Croke Park, the prominence given to its crucial fixtures in our calendar, as well as a dedicated awards ceremony, a holiday prize fund and the guarantee of a place in the Sam Maguire Cup in 2024 for its champions.
“These significant gestures will only ever be a supporting cast. The real stars will always be the games and the players on centre stage and what the Tailteann Cup showed was that when teams of equal ability meet, the games are hugely competitive and hugely enjoyable.”
UPCOMING GAA FIXTURES
Saturday
Munster SHC round 3: Waterford v Clare, FBD Semple Stadium, 6pm – GAAGO
Tailteann Cup round 1: Cavan v Laois, Kingspan Breffni, 4pm – GAAGO;
Limerick v Longford, TUS Gaelic Grounds, 6pm; Down v Waterford, Pairc Esler, 6pm; Meath v Tipperary, Pairc Tailteann, 6.30pm
All-Ireland Under-20 football final: Sligo v Kildare, Kingspan Breffni, 1.30pm – TG4
Ulster MFC quarterfinals: Derry v Antrim, Owenbeg, 1pm; Tyrone v Fermanagh, O’Neills Healy Park, 1pm; Monaghan v Armagh, Castleblayney, 1pm; Cavan v Donegal, Kingspan Breffni, 6.30pm
Joe McDonagh Cup round 5: Kildare v Down, Hawkfield, 5.30pm; arlow v Offaly, Netwatch Cullen Park, 5.30pm; Kerry v Laois, Austin Stack Park, 5.30pm
Christy Ring Cup round 4: Meath v Tyrone, Pairc Tailteann, 4.30pm
Sligo v Mayo, Markievicz Park, 6pm
Nickey Rackard Cup round 4: Fermanagh v Armagh, Brewster Park, 3pm
Donegal v Louth, Letterkenny, 3pm
Wicklow v Roscommon, Aughrim, 3pm
Lory Meagher Cup round 4: Longford v Cavan, Glennon Brothers Pearse Park, 12pm
SUNDAY
Leinster SFC final: Dublin v Louth, Croke Park, 1.45pm – RTÉ2
Ulster SFC final: Derry v Armagh, Clones, 4pm – RTÉ2 / BBC NI
Tailteann Cup round 1: Fermanagh v Wexford, Brewster Park, 1pm
Antrim v Leitrim, Corrigan Park, 1pm
Offaly v London, Glenisk O’Connor Park, 2pm
Wicklow v Carlow, Aughrim, 4pm
Christy Ring Cup round 4: London v Derry, Ruislip, 12pm
Lory Meagher Cup round 4
Warwickshire v Leitrim, Pairc na hEireann, 12pm
Lancashire v Monaghan, Pairc na hEireann, 2pm
SATURDAY MAY 20TH
All-Ireland SFC round 1: Clare v Donegal, Cusack Park, Ennis, 2pm
Kerry v Mayo, Fitzgerald Stadium, 3pm – GAAGO
Galway v Tyrone, Pearse Stadium, 5.15pm – GAAGO
Tailteann Cup round 2: London v Cavan, Ruislip, 2pm
Carlow v Limerick, Netwatch Cullen Park, 3pm
Longford v Wicklow, Glennon Bros Pearse Park, 5pm
Wexford v Antrim, Chadwicks Wexford Park, 5.30pm
Leitrim v Fermanagh, Avant Money Páirc Sean MacDiarmada, 6pm
Waterford v Meath, Fraher Field, 6.30pm
Laois v Offaly, Laois Hire O’Moore Park, 7pm
Leinster SHC round 4: Kilkenny v Dublin, UPMC Nowlan Park, 6pm
SUNDAY MAY 21ST
All-Ireland SFC round 1: Sligo v Kildare, Markievicz Park, 2.30pm
Leinster SHC round 4: Galway v Antrim, Pearse Stadium, 2pm
Wexford v Westmeath, Chadwicks Wexford Park, 3pm
Munster SHC round 4: Clare v Cork, Cusack Park, Ennis, 2pm
Tipperary v Limerick, FBD Semple Stadium, 4pm
Tailteann Cup round 2: Tipperary v Down, FBD Semple Stadium, 1.45pm
