RTÉ GAA Podcast: Meath resuscitate Leinster Championship, Waterford enter Munster conversation
Dessie Dolan joins Jacqui Hurley and Rory O'Neill to reflect on one of the shocks of the decade, as Meath downed the Dubs.
Armagh and Donegal, meanwhile, have set up a repeat Ulster final but can the All-Ireland champions finally get over the provincial line?
Speaking of All-Ireland champions, Waterford inflicted a surprise loss on the hurling ones - Clare - while Cork annihilated Tipperary, with Shane McGrath joining to discuss that and more.
There were wins for Galway and Kilkenny in Leinster, but the most significant one might have been at Parnell Park where Dublin - with some big calls going their way - over came Wexford.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Times
an hour ago
- Irish Times
Game, set and cash: How much will it cost you to go to Wimbledon?
If you watched that iconic French Open final recently between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner – or at least some of its five hours and 29 minutes – you may be in the mood for more tennis. Thankfully, then, Wimbledon is calling. Its famed lawns are set to welcome the stars of the sport on the 30th of this month. More than 30 years after seeing (on television) Andre Agassi win his only Wimbledon singles title and becoming hooked on the sport, this year I will finally – hopefully – make it to the hallowed grounds of SW19. I won't be the only one trekking across the Irish Sea; Wimbledon organisers say Ireland is one of the leading international markets seeking tickets for the tennis fortnight this year. READ MORE But while it is claimed that the price for a portion of the famed strawberries and cream at the event has remained the same since 2010, at just £2.50 (€3), the cost of watching the tennis continues to climb. So if you, like me, are keen to attend but wish to do so without breaking the bank, here are some options to while it might be too late to get there this time, there's always next year! The ballot This is the route that many take to get tickets. To be in with a chance for the draw, you must sign up around September, with offers sent out in October. Only one application for a maximum of two tickets per account, per email address and per household is accepted. And you must use one of the tickets yourself. Prices at this stage of the process range from just £30 for a grounds pass and £75 for a 'cheap seat' on Centre Court on day one of the tournament to £315 for a Centre Court seat on either the men's or ladies' final day. Buying a debenture seat, for either Centre Court or Court No 1, gives you a premium seat for life, provided you're prepared to stump up the cash While these prices have increased in recent years – back in 2021, for example, tickets for finals day were £240 – they remain significantly cheaper than many other options, as you will see below. If you have a UK address, you could also consider applying for the Lawn Tennis Association ballot – it will cost about £25 to become a member. Resale This is where I struck gold this year (or at least a kind colleague did!). Once you have entered the ballot, you are sent an email when the resale opens – typically about 100 days before the tournament. For example, on a recent day in May, there were two tickets available (rows U-Z) for Centre Court on Tuesday, day nine, for £220 each. Beware, however, that tickets sell out at lightning speed on the site, and it is difficult to be the one who gets them. So be prepared to spend a lot of time refreshing the resale page if you are keen to get tickets via this process. The queue For many, the famed queue is as much a part of the 14-day tournament as Henman Hill/Murray Mound or the plaque commemorating the longest ever Wimbledon match (John Isner against Nicolas Mahut back in 2010) on Court No 18. This opens each day, and gives you the chance of getting a show court or a grounds pass ticket. Some people pitch tent overnight to give themselves the best chance – and is part of the experience for many. If you get lucky in the queue, you will pay regular retail prices for your tickets. Resale on the day Once you're in the gate, remember you have the possibility of upgrading your ticket. This year, there will be an on-site resale kiosk adjacent to Court No 1. If you have a grounds pass, you can apply for a Centre Court or Court No 1 ticket via the Wimbledon app. You will be sent a message and, if successful, can then head to the kiosk to buy your ticket. These are based on returns from show courts on the day, and come at a very attractive additional cost of £15 for Centre Court and £10 for Court No 1. Debentures For those for whom cost is not an issue, why not try to buy a debenture seat? Buying one, for either Centre Court or Court No 1, gives you a premium seat for life, provided you're prepared to stump up the cash. These are the only types of Wimbledon tickets that can be legally transferred or sold on the open market. While the 'big four' of Federer, Nadal, Murray and Djokovic) might have mostly moved on, they are being replaced by the likes of Sinner and Alcaraz, which keeps interest keen With a debenture, you get access to the hallowed grounds through your own exclusive entrance and each debenture offers a 'premium seat' on Centre Court (rows A-N) or Court No 1 (rows A-Q) for five years. It also allows you to access certain restaurants and bars. There are 2,520 such seats on Centre Court, and 1,250 on Court No 1. While you get the same seat for the championship, you will be allocated a different seat each year. With a Centre Court ticket, you can access your seat on all 14 days of the tournament while, on Court No 1, as play finishes earlier, you will get 11 days, 'plus the right to buy face-value tickets for the last three days'. Tim Webb is head of institutional trading with UK stockbroker Dowgate, which runs weekly auctions for debenture seats. He says there are a number of Irish debenture seat holders. When we chat, he has 'literally hung up the phone to a new Irish buyer' of debenture seats for Court No 1. So what's the price the Irish buyer paid for five years of pleasure in SW19? Well, last month, Wimbledon opened its 2027-2031 debenture series for Court No 1 at £73,000 (€86,166) per debenture – up almost 60 per cent on the price of the last issue. In the most recent sale of Centre Court tickets (2026-30), debentures were sold at £116,000 (or £1,657 for each day of tennis). As with stocks, there is a secondary market for debentures, which are financial instruments though they are not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. The aforementioned 2026-2030 Centre Court issuance for example, were selling for £156,000 as of April this year, according to Dowgate – even though one additional payment, the third and final instalment of £43,500, is to be paid on February 27th, 2026. And when buying, you have to buy two, so you can double that cost. For Court No 1, Dowgate sold a 2022-2026 debenture for £35,000 back in February. This seat has two years to run. Webb says traditional owners of such seats were British families, who passed them down. These days they are being joined by a younger cohort of international buyers. 'It's a good investment. The value of the ticket has gone up quite drastically,' says Webb, 'Tickets are significantly more expensive than they used to be.' But is there a better time of year to buy, when prices might be more muted? 'There isn't a good time, to be honest,' says Webb. 'There are four grand slams a year, and debentures are often bought for Christmas or birthday presents!' While some tennis lovers will buy a debenture for the love of the game, others may see it as a canny opportunity to make some money- or at least help defray the cost of their own tickets. In addition to trading your debenture, you also have the opportunity to sell your seat for each day of the tournament through a platform such as Wimbledon Debenture Holders. Canny resale of the tickets can mean a 'free Wimbledon', says Webb, as you can go yourself for a few days, and sell on the tickets for the others. If, for example, you've paid £80,000 for a five-year debenture, then the annual cost of the ticket is £16,000. By selling access to your ticket on certain key days, you might make this back – and more. Last year, for example, you could buy a debenture ticket for the men's finals on resale site Viagogo for a staggering £23,602. This year, Wimbledon Debenture Holders was recently offering two tickets for Centre Court for men's semi-final day for £15,800. Tickets sell out at lightning speed on the site, and it is difficult to be the one who gets them. So be prepared to spend a lot of time refreshing the resale page To some extent, prices are driven by the popularity of the game. So while the 'big four' (Federer, Nadal, Murray and Djokovic) might have moved on – or will be doing so soon in the case of Djokovic, they are being replaced by the likes of Sinner and Alcaraz, which keeps interest keen. 'There is also a resurgence in American players, both men and women,' says Webb. Package option It is these debenture tickets that many will avail of if booking a package to Wimbledon. This year, Keith Prowse Travel is offering a package – including return flight from Ireland, three or four-star hotel for one night, and debenture seats for one day on either Court No 1 or Centre Court – from €3,019 for Centre Court, for day two, rising to €3,959 for the ladies' final and almost €11,000 for the men's final. You can save a bit by going to Court No 1, where prices start at €2,456 on day one and two. It's a steep price, but going this way means you can guarantee seats together with your travelling companion. You can also book debenture seats only through a resale broker such as Green and Purple.
Irish Daily Mirror
an hour ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
'GAA bosses have gone too far by prioritising money over community'
What in the name of God is going on in the GAA. Last Saturday was one of the busiest of the year in terms of football matches and none were shown on free-to-air television. Dublin were playing Derry in a crucial match for All-Ireland survival, Meath met and walloped Kerry in one of the shocks of the year, Galway needed a result against Armagh to survive. Yet the only place you could see these crucial matches was on Croke Park's lucrative streaming service GAA+ - where you are charged for the privilege. No team, of course, could actually play in Croke Park because the GAA top brass had given the stadium for the URC rugby final, which Leinster thankfully won against the mighty South African Bulls. I have nothing against rugby but surely the national Gaelic stadium could have been used as a neutral venue with so many do-or-die All-Ireland series matches going on, and not rented out to rugby. It seems to me that the GAA is now ruled by the well-paid suits who are more interested in hitting their revenue targets than doing the right thing in the public interest. The powers that be in Croke Park seem more interested in making as much money as they can from their GAA+ streaming service than letting their members all over the country watch vital important matches for free. What they are doing is totally and utterly wrong. There are hundreds of thousands of people - many of them old-age pensioners who gave their lives to the association for free - who would have loved to watch these matches on RTE or Virgin Media. Croke Park need to realise they are not the Premier League, but yet they are starting to behave like them with their pay-per-view strategy. The GAA is a national organisation built from the grassroots up who have a moral obligation to look after their members and do the right thing. Doing the right thing means showing these games on free TV as we know it, and not charging the various county fans who already spend a fortune following their team, more money for the privilege. Most pubs in the country can't afford GAA+ and if they do have one of their games on it is probably from a "dodgy" box. By not doing the right thing, the GAA is losing out big time. They will argue that the highlights of these matches will be shown on RTE's Saturday Game but it is just not good enough. I was in my local pub last Saturday evening and guess what was on - the rugby. It was full of who I would call GAA people and everyone would have loved to have watched Kerry and Meath, followed by the Dubs. Dublin themselves have such a huge following and it is wrong that the majority of their supporters would not have seen the game unless they could afford to pay for the pay-per-view. The Dublin lads in our bar could not believe the Derry match was not being shown live by RTE. But to be fair to RTE it is not their fault - it was the GAA's fault. My late father Johnny spent half his life as a volunteer in the GAA involved with his club, the Oliver Plunketts and the County Board in Louth. Like many others of his generation he gave his all to help build the association in what it is today. There was no one prouder going to the new Croke Park than him. Every penny of taxpayers' money that was given to the GAA at the time to build the new-look stadium was worth it. In the last years of his life, when he was not as mobile as he used to be and couldn't go to games anymore, there was nothing he enjoyed more than watching all the various inter-county matches on the telly. But he lived in a time before the GAA decided to go down the streaming route and he would be turning in his grave at what's happening right now with vital matches not being shown free-to-air. He would rightly feel betrayed. The GAA, for as long as I can remember, is all about the community. Every town, parish and village has their own pitch and club. It should, as an organisation, be all about serving its members and not making money. We all know that unlike the FAI, the GAA is an amateur sport run by professionals. But sadly the professionals in Croke Park these days have gone too far and need to get a grip. One of the best games of the year was the Munster Hurling Final when Cork beat Limerick in a penalty shootout the weekend before last. It was rightly shown on RTE and the whole nation was enthralled by it. It was a wonderful advertisement for the sport. The people of Ireland should have been able to see Meath demolish Kerry, they should have been able to see Galway battling for survival against Armagh with the last kick of the game. Last Saturday, the only GAA matches you could watch on traditional TV were two Ladies Football Championship matches - I have nothing against the ladies by the way - and the All-Ireland Hurling Minor Semi-Final, and all on TG4. If you wanted to see anything else you had to pay for it on the GAA streaming service. The GAA will argue that Sunday's Monaghan vs Down and Donegal vs Mayo were shown free on RTE 2. Not good enough. Three of those teams were from Ulster so what about the rest of the country - do the other teams and games not matter? This issue should be raised at the next Congress and GAA President Jarlath Burns needs to step in and do something about it. They also need to spread the season over the summer and not be playing so many cracking matches on one weekend. The All-Ireland final should never have been moved from the traditional third Sunday in September and the idea that the national GAA season ends in July is insane. As Pat Spillane rightly says, it just gives a free ticket for all other sports to promote their games.
Irish Independent
3 hours ago
- Irish Independent
Wexford stutter past Clare to make inaugural All-Ireland Under-23 ‘B' camogie championship final
Wexford stuttered to an All-Ireland Under-23 'B' camogie championship final meeting with Dublin, defeating Clare in a scrappy game played in at least three seasons of weather in O'Kennedy Park, New Ross on Saturday.
