Kerry v Mayo and Galway v Tyrone both only to be broadcast on GAAGo

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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[ GAAGO: Hurling suffers when RTÉ and GAA put the best matches behind a paywall ]

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.”

[ The Schemozzle: Is GAAGO pushing it a little too far? ]

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