An All-Ireland contest to savour after three poor deciders but interest must go beyond one day
After three poor contests, we were craving an All-Ireland final of high drama. Something to sign off on the inter-county season with a guttural yell.
Sunday's offering of hard physical exchanges, red card controversy, and penalty tension was just the tonic. That's before we even mention Carrie Dolan's pressure free from near the sideline to win it, and the verbal sideswipes from both managers that followed the full-time whistle.
Cork boss Ger Manley assuredly said there were 'no sour grapes' over the result before unleashing a tirade against referee Justin Heffernan over decisions against his team.
Cathal Murray fumed at an article in the Irish Examiner which he claimed was 'f****** insulting' to his players ahead of the game. His spicy tone conjured up images of that famous clip from 'A Year 'Til Sunday' in which the late John O'Mahony holds up a newspaper during a team meeting with the 1998 Galway footballers. He bristles at an article accusing his players of being 'fancy dans' before looking up at them and saying:
'There's only one f****** answer for that.'
Carrie Dolan lifting the O'Duffy Cup. Ben Brady / INPHO Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
Carrie Dolan did something similar in her acceptance speech, highlighting a pop at her manager claiming Galway had a 'fat chance of winning an All-Ireland with Murray in charge'. Ailish O'Reilly practically stood over Cork's corpse when she looked down the Sunday Game camera and sniped at the three-in-a-row talk that disrespected her team.
Advertisement
And should the two teams make it back to Croke Park next year, Cork have lots of motivational material to hang on their dressing room wall for the trilogy title fight.
Galway and Cork gave us everything, and for that, we salute you. Our cups are truly full.
But where to now for camogie, and indeed Ladies football, after their usual blast of annual All-Ireland final day coverage? Back into the vault until finals day 2026.
We've been stuck in that phase for some time now as the rest of their respective seasons receive comparatively less attention. The games preceding the All-Ireland final are often reduced to wrap reports and short highlights packages on the night-time edition of the Sunday Game. It's not total disregard, but we're also not engaged with the trending storylines that develop throughout the season.
As a consequence, media preparation for the All-Ireland finals tends to feel like cramming for an exam. It becomes retrospective coverage. We end up in a scenario where we try to cover everything we've missed to hastily create a narrative.
Not that we should fall into the trap of comparing the coverage with the men's codes, but it is worth observing the difference in how we preview those finals. The constant drip-feed of context throughout the year allows us to go beneath the surface level information and consider different angles and storylines for the big days in the hurling and men's football. That all leads to more enlightened coverage.
TG4 have the broadcast rights for Ladies football due to their longstanding sponsorship arrangement. And credit must go to the Irish language station for consistently showing live games throughout the season. But even while accounting for that brilliant effort, it still feels like we fixate on the All-Ireland finals.
And to that point, the obsession with attendance numbers could be seen as a contributory factor to why coverage beyond All-Ireland finals has stalled. Reaching a certain figure for one triple-header of games is not the antidote when the attendance is so vastly different on other championship days.
Ladies football set a crowd record of 56,114 in 2019, which was an impressive feat considering the torrential rain that fell during the clash of Dublin and Galway that day.
The 2019 Ladies All-Ireland final drew a record crowd despite heavy rainfall. Bryan Keane / INPHO Bryan Keane / INPHO / INPHO
The intrusion of Covid in the years after certainly didn't help with building on that figure, but attendances have dropped since the Croke Park gates reopened. There was 45,326 at the 2023 final triple-header, and 30,340 turned out last year. There were more clicks through the turnstiles last weekend, as Dublin and Meath drew a crowd of 48,089 into Croke Park.
The turnout for camogie finals is even lower. Just 28,795 were present for that Galway-Cork thriller on Sunday, a number which was well below the 40,000 target that was set by camogie association president Brian Molloy.
Television dictates everything. Seeing the games live informs our opinions of the teams involved, the competitions and the sport on a broader note. Match reports and podcast segments can only do so much when we can't visualise what is being discussed.
And while we have TG4 and GAA+ widening the selection and offering us more games to watch live than ever before, the Sunday Game remains the flagship programme. Despite the many complaints about the show, it sill provides the biggest platform for games.
It's the reason why men's football and hurling are always in a scrap for free-to-air coverage. And in an already condensed season where everyone is fighting for broadcasting position, where does one make room for camogie and Ladies football?
All-Ireland finals will always thrive as the men's competitions have already been concluded. That gives them the entire promotional shop window. The other games, however, are overshadowed by what's happening in the men's codes. The camogie All-Ireland semi-final double-header was televised on RTÉ, but since that was the same weekend as the men's football final, the camogie clashes were somewhat overlooked.
Perhaps, in the case of Ladies football, the media rights could be expanded to include RTÉ with a view to exploring a slot in the Sunday Game coverage. It may be an ambitious suggestion to aim for, but could a provincial final double-header on television be possible?
Considering that a merger of all four codes is coming in 2027, perhaps it's time for the governing bodies to meet and consider such opportunities. We need a sincere effort to help spread the coverage of Ladies football and camogie. Of course, that would take a lot of planning to avoid excluding a headline fixture from the Sunday Game billing. It's an almost impossible tightrope to walk.
But some collaborative thinking could possibly identify a vacancy. And maybe it will only be achievable once in the championship to start with. But something needs to happen to move the dial.
Growth can also be achieved on the back of social media clips showcasing great moments of skill and score-taking. Carla Rowe's back-heeled goal in the All-Ireland semi-final against Galway is one stunning example. She combined both to become a viral hit. Her audacious effort became a big talking point in the build-up to the final.
Related Reads
Galway win the big moments, Cork forwards shut down, referee criticism
'It's been a mad year' - Wedding and All-Ireland joy for Galway's Star of County Down
'All we heard all week was the three-in-a-row. We were there to take it off them'
But we need more of that online traction to help build a fanbase. That's particularly true in the case of the Camogie Association since they have even less TV coverage to work with than Ladies football. They need to utilise their own channels to regularly publish highlights packages with good graphics to help sell the product.
Interviews with players about their lives and passion for the sport the various challenges they face day-to-day with are important too. They allow us to see the human behind the jersey. But those stories are separate to the game they play. They're not props to bolster match coverage. In-game moments are the only currency that counts in that respect.
There have been some suggestions that camogie and Ladies football championships should revert to the old schedule, meaning that All-Ireland finals would return to the Autumn dates. That could be a solution, although it also means going into direct competition with the men's club championships. That would lead to further dilution of the All-Ireland final crowds as most will pick their club game in that scenario.
When you're trying to grow both sports, you must meet the public more than half way. Anything that could discourage spectators from attending the games is a dangerous gamble to take.
The 2025 camogie final was one to remember. But we'll have to savour it long enough to sustain us through to July next year.
Our cups could do with a refill.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Times
2 hours ago
- Irish Times
Ireland twice give up lead to lose to Scotland at EuroHockey Championships
EuroHockey Championships: Ireland 2 Scotland 3 It was another tale of woe for Ireland at the EuroHockey Championships in Mönchengladbach on Friday when they twice gave up a lead against Scotland to lose 3-2 in their fifth to eighth place classification pool. Róisín Upton had ended Ireland's three-and-a-half-hour goal drought at the tournament when she converted a third quarter penalty stroke after Eve Pearson had stick-tackled Katie Mullan as she shaped up for a strike on goal. They held on to that lead until a madcap five-minute spell in the final quarter. First, Caoimhe Perdue conceded a stroke when she went in high with her elbow on Heather McEwan, Charlotte Watson equalising from the spot. Katie Mullan restored Ireland's lead two minutes later, though, when she was brilliantly picked out in the circle by Upton, Mullan firing low to Jess Buchanan's right. But it went pear-shaped for Gareth Grundie's side in the space of two minutes when, first, Amy Costello buried a penalty corner before McEwan made it 3-2. What proved to be the winner was an unfortunate one for Ireland, Ellie Mackenzie's long-range shot hitting the post, rebounding off Lizzie Murphy's back to leave McEwan with a simple tap-in. READ MORE On the whole, it was a deserved win for the Scots, ranked two places below Ireland, after they had the better of the bulk of the game. They forced seven penalty corners to Ireland's none, once again Murphy proving to be a more than able deputy for the injured Ayeisha McFerran, making fine saves from Sarah Robertson, Caterina Nelli and Ruth Blaikie. Ireland finish up their tournament against England on Sunday and are in danger of finishing in the bottom two for the first time since 2013. Ireland : E Murphy, E Curran, H McLoughlin, S McAuley, C Perdue, K McKee, S Hawkshaw (capt), C Hamill, N Carey, K Mullan, S Torrans. Rolling subs : M Carey, R Upton, C Beggs, K Larmour, M Power, E Kealy, H Micklem.
Irish Times
3 hours ago
- Irish Times
The All-Ireland final was no classic, but new rules meant a big improvement on 2024
The 2024 All-Ireland football final between Armagh and Galway marked a moment in history. The Orchard County won just their second Sam Maguire Cup, their first for over 20 years, but it will likely be remembered for even more significant reasons. As long as the Football Review Committee's (FRC) proposals are ratified by GAA congress later this year, then Armagh-Galway will be the final intercounty game played without the FRC's rule changes that have breathed life back into football this year. The game itself is something of a time capsule – a tense, dreary game, with all the hallmarks of a sport that needed a speedy redraft. This year's final was hardly a classic itself as Kerry blew away Donegal with an early assault that the Ulster champions never recovered from. But a deeper analysis of both of these game shows that there are major signs of improvement in the wider footballing context. For starters, there was a nearly 20 per cent reduction in handpassing in 2025 compared to the previous final. With Galway particularly intent on playing through the hands, the 2024 final saw 593 fist passes, compared to 485 in this year's edition. Highlighting hand-passing's negative impact on games, over two-thirds of those passes went either sideways or backwards in both finals. READ MORE Kerry's last play of the first half came in for some criticism from neutrals after the final this year. The Kingdom held possession for over two minutes, waiting for the hooter to sound before David Clifford blasted a two-pointer over the bar to end the opening period. Although that possession seemed to last forever because of the lack of action, Galway actually kept the ball for longer on two separate occasions in their loss to Armagh. Those long stretches of idle possession would have been high on the list of priorities for the FRC, and things largely seem to have improved this year. The average length of time that possession was held in the final fell by nearly a quarter from last year – from 45 seconds to 34 – although this was down to an increase in shooting and more direct play rather than turnovers and tackling. One huge difference between the two games was in shooting. The contrast is stark – there were 45 shots in the 2024 final, but this was eclipsed by the total of 68 shots this year, an increase of 51 per cent. There was also a massive increase in the number of scores, from 25 to 41, so in this regard, the FRC changes have absolutely added more excitement to the game. There were far more shots in the 2025 final than in the previous year's game, with Kerry in particular targeting two-pointers. Graphic: Paul Scott Kerry managed five two-pointers, targeting the extra point with 14 total attempts, whereas Donegal failed to do likewise, scoring zero from three attempts. All of these came in the second half as they were chasing the game. While other rules have certainly helped create more scoring chances, the introduction of the two-point arc has been critical in the return of long-range scores. One odd detail from the 2024 final is that Paul Conroy likely would have won Galway the All-Ireland if the arc had been established by then, with the midfielder scoring three from the required distance. However, these were the only such scores, and only three more were attempted, while there were 17 shots from 40 metres or more in the 2025 edition. There were far less long-distance shots in the 2024 final, where Galway's Paul Conroy was a clear outlier. Graphic: Paul Scott Disappointingly, there was only the slightest increase in turnovers in the tackle, up one from last year to 11. The number of blocks was doubled from two to four, as was the number of turnovers in one-on-one situations, but these are very marginal gains. Traditionalists will also have been disappointed with the amount of kickpassing in this year's final. There was slightly less kickpassing than in the 2024 final, and the number of foot passes that travelled forward more than 30 yards fell from by three to nine. Kickouts were radically altered by the new rules, with short restarts having to travel beyond the 40-metre arc. This meant that there were massive changes in kickout strategy between the two finals. In 2024, 29 total kickouts went short to a player under little or no pressure – that number fell to just five in 2025. At the other end of the spectrum, 29 kickouts went long this year, over four times more than in the Armagh-Galway final, creating entertaining scraps for possession in midfield. This was crucial, as Kerry's determination to win the breaking ball on kickouts was the platform that their victory was built on. Galway's Paul Conroy and Oisin Conaty of Armagh. Photograph: Laszlo Geczo/Inpho Meanwhile, high fielding doubled from last year, with eight clean catches coming from these kickouts. Joe O'Connor, in particular, gave an exhibition of a skill we have not seen enough of in recent years. Overall, despite the 2025 final not being the most thrilling game we've seen this year, it shows that even an average game under the new rules can be an improvement on last year. While some skills of the game like kickpassing and tackling remained disappointingly minor aspects of the final, there were still significant gains in areas that add entertainment for fans, like shooting and high fielding. There are further changes that could be voted in at GAA congress, but after the best championship in years, there's plenty of reason for delegates to stick to the current rules, and not twist one more time. Regardless, it's almost guaranteed that Armagh's victory over Galway will be the final intercounty game played without some FRC changes. It's certainly a good reminder of why we needed these changes to begin with.
Extra.ie
3 hours ago
- Extra.ie
Andy Moran's shade at recent running of Mayo team as he's ratified as manager
Mayo have finally ended their managerial chase as Andy Moran was ratified in on a three-year term. The former footballer of the year and Mayo legend takes his county's top job after time in the backroom at Monaghan after three years in charge of Leitrim previously. He replaces Kevin McStay and Stephen Rochford as Mayo manager after Rochford had taken over from McStay in light of his health issues. It was a messy time for The Westerners and it saw their championship end early. Andy Moran. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile Mayo have decided top go in a new direction and after his first press conference as Mayo manager, Andy Moran looks like he's looking to make changes. He made it clear that all players are welcomed back and that he'll pick the best available, while also hinting at that not always happening in recent years. 'The key thing is to get the best players in Mayo playing for Mayo, which, quite unusually over the last couple of years, mightn't have always been the case. We need to get the best players playing.' Leitrim manager Andy Moran. Pic: INPHO/Leah Scholes The biggest name this could effect is that of Cillian O'Connor. O'Connor opted out of the 2025 campaign but Moran is hopeful the Ballintubber forward will return to intercounty play next year. It's not just established names looking to be brought back but Moran was optimistic of the young talent coming through the ranks at Mayo. 'In terms of young talent, there's a crop of Under-20s there that just missed out narrowly against Louth this year (in the All-Ireland semi-final). There's a crop of minors coming through that are really talented, who lost to Armagh in last year's All-Ireland semi-final. Cillian O'Connor. Pic: INPHO/Lorraine O'Sullivan 'There's been a few Connacht titles (at underage) and a few green shoots over the last couple of years, which is great to see. It's about how we keep being competitive with the strong players we have and embedding these young players in amongst it. That's going to be the major role for the management team over the next couple of years.' Moran's former teammate Colm Boyle is on the new manager's coaching ticket. Meanwhile, recently departed Derry manager Paddy Tally is also joining Mayo as a coach.
