GAA fans delighted with major RTE schedule change amid hectic weekend of football and hurling action
THIS weekend will see The Saturday Game highlights show make its 2025 bow.
Up until this point in the inter-county season, GAA fans have had to make do with its big brother Sunday night equivalent being the only recap programme available.
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The battle between Donegal and Armagh will be many people's most keenly-anticipated game of the day
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Kieran McGeeney has yet to lead his county to provincial glory in his decade-long stint in charge
But that will change this weekend as The Saturday Game will air from 9:40pm until 11:25pm on May 10.
There'll still be plenty of live action televised earlier in the day though as there'll be a double-header on
The first match-up shown will be the Leinster Hurling Championship clash between Galway and Wexford which will be a 3:15pm throw-in.
It'll be followed by the Ulster football final between holders Donegal and
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That
It's not all good news around the weekend's scheduling, however, as there have been plenty of gripes about the Clones clash...well, clashing with the hurling battle of Clare and Tipperary which has a 6pm start time.
The Leinster duel between Kilkenny and Offaly will also get going at the same time so fans of the small ball will have a choice to make around then.
The latter game isn't even available to watch/stream anywhere whilst Clare versus Tipp is at least on the GAA+ slate.
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The 4pm meeting of Antrim and Dublin will also be behind the streaming paywall.
There's also a notable change to the live free-to-air offerings on the Sunday.
Owen Mulligan teases Lee Keegan over hilarious contrast in how their inter-county GAA careers ended
Whereas up until this stage, there's been a double-header shown on RTE Two each afternoon, only the Leinster football decider between Meath and Louth will be on offer.
Coverage from Croke Park of that novel pairing will air from 3:45pm until 6:15pm.
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In excess of 50,000 spectators are expected through the turnstiles as excitement grips both counties after
Ahead of their quest to repeat the infamous 2010 final result, Meath boss
Brennan said: "Even if you wanted to stop the celebrations on the pitch in Portlaoise after we beat Dublin, you wouldn't have been able to.
"That's 15 years of hurt, if that's the way you want to put it. It was bound to come out.
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"But from a player perspective, once we got back in, obviously the dressing-room was buzzing but once we got it back down to normality it was all about focusing on the next job - the final.
"The lads went for an ice-cream in Supermacs. We stopped the bus. We all had 99s.
"They loved that but then they went home and started their recovery. And that's how it's been. So from a player point of view, I don't see us getting caught up in any of that hype, the external stuff.
"Around the county, it seems to be buzzing, which is brilliant. That's what we want. But the lads know they have a job to do and they're fairly focused on it."
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