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RTÉ News
6 days ago
- Sport
- RTÉ News
Condensed season gives little time to savour championship
In terms of hurling, this has to be one of the great weekends of the year with three blockbuster games, including two provincial finals, down for decision. Once again, the TUS Gaelic Grounds in Limerick will be jammed to capacity as over 44,000 people fill every seat and stand on the terraces behind the Ennis Road goals or the City End as we look across at Thomond Park and the Clare hills in the distance. And all of this on a Saturday evening. On Sunday, Croke Park will have an expected attendance of over 30,000 for the Leinster Hurling Final between Kilkenny and Galway, which will be preceded by the much anticipated clash between Kildare and Laois in the Joe Mc Donagh Cup Final. All three games will be televised live by RTÉ and there will be commentary on RTÉ Radio 1. The 'Split Season' has its supporters and its detractors, but when we have three crucial games being played between a Saturday evening and a Sunday afternoon on one weekend, it really highlights the impact the condensed calendar is having. Nobody involved - from players, managers, officials, fans, or those of us who work in the media - have the time or the space to actually savour and enjoy the championships any more. There is little or no time to analyse in some depth the learnings from games last weekend or preview matches coming down the tracks. In the past, the summer really belonged to the GAA, but with the 'Split Season' in operation, this has dramatically changed. The GAA is in direct competition in terms of media coverage with other sports who fully deserve their coverage by RTÉ and other media outlets. Last Tuesday, I filmed in Croke Park interviews with Galway's Cathal Mannion, Kilkenny's Adrian Mullen, David Dooley from Laois and Paddy McKenna, the Kildare goalkeeper, and my report previewing the Leinster Hurling Final and Joe Mc Donagh Cup Final was broadcast on Tuesday evening on the Six One News. This evening, I will be broadcasting live from Bruree in Co Limerick - very close to the Cork border - where I will be interviewing two former stars, TJ Ryan and Pat Mulcahy, as we look ahead to tomorrow's Munster Hurling Final, which has traditionally been one of the biggest games of the year. We only have limited space and time in the bulletin. The sports news will also have my colleague Tony O'Donoghue reporting live from the Aviva Stadium on the Republic of Ireland v Senegal soccer friendly, Leinster v Glasgow in the United Rugby Championship, the Women's Nations League Draw which involves our Republic of Ireland team in a promotion/relegation play off, The French Open tennis championship, the Tenerife and Canadian Golf Open, the Epsom Oaks in racing and me and the lads in Bruree talking about tomorrow's Munster Hurling Final. Do you get my point? It's a crowded market and the GAA is a huge part of that market but it's still very busy. In the past the Munster and Leinster Hurling Finals would be played in July with little or no competition in terms of sport to the GAA world. But it's different now. That's just one negative but a very big negative. And it's not just us in RTE that find the situation challenging but other media outlets have the same experiences. The back pages are no longer always dominated by GAA headlines. As I said there's so much going on. Next year there will be a bit more space given between the finals of the Allianz National Leagues and the start of the championships, but it will only be a small window of opportunity. As it stands the All-Ireland Hurling Final next year is on the same day as the World Cup Final which will be played at the MetLife Stadium at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey, near New York. Do you get my point? To be fair and balanced the 'Split Season' has the positive effect of giving club players across the country a clear plan in terms of fixtures, but ultimately most county finals are still not played until the middle or late October so perhaps more space can be given to the hurling championship so that it can be played during the summer months of June and July and extended to at least August and breathe a little. Getting back to this weekend, the timing of the Munster Hurling Final on a Saturday evening at 6pm is not a "normal" time for a GAA match of this gravitas or magnitude. Saturday afternoons in any of our cities means a shopping day for most people so combining that factor with a huge crowd heading to the match means that we all will be travelling very early to the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick and probably log jammed for hours afterwards despite the huge effort of gardaí who always do a great job in moving the traffic as quickly as they can. The hurling people of Ireland are loyal to the game and many would also travel to Croke Park on Sunday if they could to watch Kilkenny v Galway in the Leinster Final, but the reality is that many of them will be turned off by the logistical difficulties they would have to overcome to get there. There is also a strong argument that this match hould be played at a provincial venue like Portlaoise or Tullamore where 30,000 fans attending would bring an electric atmosphere to the occasion. The same number of people in Croke Park will mean a more than half empty stadium which won't add in any way to the atmosphere around the ground, or have that visual impact that a full venue would have for the people in attendance or the hundreds of thousands watching on television. Leinster Council has shown great vision this year with some of its calls so perhaps the decision to move the Leinster Hurling Final out of Croke Park in 2026 might be considered in its review later this year. The weekend pictures on the TV and the difference between the scenes in the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick tomorrow evening and Croke Park on Sunday might just persuade everyone that it's the right thing to do.
Irish Examiner
04-06-2025
- General
- Irish Examiner
Laois captain 'grateful' moment of 'mayhem' went their way to secure McDonagh Cup final spot
Laois captain David Dooley has acknowledged that it took a little bit of 'mayhem' to secure their return to the Joe McDonagh Cup final. The beaten 2024 finalists appeared to be cruising back to this year's decider when they started the campaign with big wins over Westmeath, Down and Kerry, registering 14 goals in the process. But the wheels came off then with a surprise 11-point loss to Kildare followed by a draw with Carlow that was only secured thanks to a late, late goal from James Duggan after a goalmouth scramble. Thanks to that goal, and the draw, Laois edged out Carlow on scoring difference in the group, locking down their final place alongside Kildare. "I think mayhem is probably the word that I'd use to describe it," said Dooley of the chaotic closing moments of the Round 5 fixture. "It was just crazy. Mixed emotions really. Like, it felt like it was gone from us with a couple of minutes to go and then just the way it finished was something I've never experienced before. To win in that fashion was just unbelievable. "If that goal hadn't gone in, a Carlow man would be sitting here talking to you now. It comes down to a very fine margin at the end of it all and we're just grateful that we were on the right side of it." Ard Stiúrthóir Tom Ryan, centre, with David Dooley of Laois, left, and Paddy McKenna of Kildare during a Joe McDonagh Cup Final media day at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Tyler Miller/Sportsfile If Laois can complete the job on Sunday, and match their 2019 McDonagh Cup success, it would mark another twist in Dooley's personal sporting tale. He only made his league debut for Laois last year having spent the two previous seasons playing rugby, making it as far as the Leinster academy and even training with the first team. A contract offer never materialised though and after just one season back with Laois, Dooley was handed the team captaincy by manager Tommy Fitzgerald for 2025. Still just 22, he has packed a lot into a short period of time. Not that he was reluctant or disinclined to take on the armband because of his age. "No, not really," he said. "Probably the overriding feeling was just pride. I snatched his hand off when I got the call. I wasn't really expecting it but there are so many big leaders within the group as well. "I wouldn't be the biggest talker in the group or anything like that but I try my best to lead by example if I can on the pitch. That's where I probably add the most amount of value to the group." Back in the oval ball game, some of his former colleagues are kicking on to the next level. "I would have played with Sam Prendergast up along," he said, referencing the Ireland international. "It's great to see him going really well. He's probably the biggest star at the minute I played with but there's plenty of lads who have Irish caps at the minute and who will earn Irish caps as well in the next couple of years, who I would have been playing with. "I'm still in touch with a lot of them and still friends with a lot of them." McDonagh Cup final opponents Kildare won the Christy Ring Cup title just last year yet are on the verge now of Leinster SHC activity in 2026, a romantic tale that has captured the imagination of hurling neutrals. "They're physical, they're strong, and they can hurl," said half-forward Dooley. "It's going to be incredibly tough on Sunday because they set up very well. They counteracted our plan really well the last day. We'll have our work cut out for sure."
