Month: April 2022

THERE MAY HAVE been some skepticism about the idea of an Irish language channel amid its launch on Halloween night 20 years ago, but since then, TG4 has garnered plenty of acclaim for its innovative programming and efforts to keep the Irish language relevant.

One of the channel’s biggest successes over the past two decades has been its sports coverage, with a diverse range of programming, from the short-lived but fondly remembered Spanish football show ‘Olé Olé’ (which has been written about comprehensively here) to its extensive coverage of county GAA clashes and Pro12 rugby over the years.

Rónán Ó Coisdealbha has been there since the early days to experience all the highs and lows, first with the aforementioned ’Olé Olé’ and subsequently as Head of Sport since the summer of 1999.

But with the arrival of TV3 and eir Sport (formerly Setanta Sports) not long after TG4 started up, the channel has had to compete in an increasingly competitive market with a considerably smaller budget than its main rivals.

GAA Beo Presenter Mícheál Ó Domhnaill and Mickey Harte.

Consequently, TG4′s aim has always been to look for sports and competitions that weren’t being shown elsewhere but which still had the potential to attract viewers.

“The Allianz Leagues and the national football and hurling leagues were never covered live except the finals by RTÉ, so we saw a gap in the market,” Ó Coisdealbha tells The42. ”It was the same with county GAA hurling and football finals, and AIB club and all that.

Back in the late ’90s RTÉ primarily concentrated on the Championship, and maybe the league finals and the club finals, so there wasn’t that much GAA on TV. The challenge for us was to get content and sports competitions that weren’t being aired.

“Stuff like schools rugby wasn’t being shown, the inter-provincial rugby championship wasn’t shown. So just to pick up on rights that nobody else was showing was the challenge.”

Mícheál Ó Domhnaill , Gráinne McElwain and Brian Tyers.

Source: Cody Glenn/SPORTSFILE

And while the channel suffered a loss of €44,000 according to its annual report last year, Ó Coisdealbha says its sports coverage has seen a “steady growth” in ratings in recent times, with combination of live sport and innovative programming helping to attract viewers.

Stuff like ‘All-Ireland Gold,’ from a GAA point of view, really put us on the map. RTÉ were never showing the old All-Irelands and YouTube wasn’t a major player 20 years ago.

“If you wanted to see old GAA footage in any county in Ireland, it wasn’t there. It was hidden away in the RTÉ archives. We showed all the old hurling and football finals back to the 1960s, and that was really good for us.”

TG4 broadcast both legs of Celtic’s win over Barcelona in a famous 2004 Uefa Cup clash.

Source: PA Archive/PA Images

Other big ratings winners from down through the years include the 2004 Uefa Cup clash over two legs between Celtic and Barcelona, when the Martin O’Neill-managed team stunned the Catalan giants, whose star-studded side featured Ronaldinho and Xavi among others.

TG4 also showed the Irish Women’s Rugby team’s historic victory over New Zealand at the 2014 World Cup — a competition that no other Irish station expressed an interest in showing, according to Ó Coisdealbha.

TG4 broadcast Ireland’s historic victory over New Zealand at the 2014 Rugby World Cup.

Source: Dan Sheridan/INPHO

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Women’s sport, in general, is something that the channel say they are keen to promote and cover more comprehensively than their rivals.

“In 2001, we had a meeting with the Ladies Gaelic Football Association (LGFA) in Croke Park. They didn’t have a sponsor at the time and only their senior final was being covered by RTÉ.

So we had a very fruitful meeting with them and basically, we decided to sponsor the Championships and we also sponsored their All Stars. We also did a deal where we would become their official broadcaster. In the first year, we only showed about four or five games, and now we’re up to something like 18 games per year.

“It’s a great success story, ladies football on TG4, because it’s worked really well for us. And it’s also helped the LGFA get other sponsors such as Lidl on board.

“And I’m not just saying this to pay lip service, it is a policy of ours to show as much female sports as possible. It doesn’t get enough recognition and it doesn’t get enough TV coverage from other stations.

(For example) Katie Taylor we had live in 2014 at the World Boxing Championships. Female sports are important to us and when we did Wimbledon, we made sure we showed as much female competitors playing as male. So we do put an emphasis on female sports, it’s something we’ve always done and it works well for us. It’s important to viewers around Ireland to show female sports as much as male sports.”

Ó Coisdealbha also expresses disappointment that next year’s Women’s Rugby World Cup, which will be hosted by Ireland, won’t be shown on free-to-air television, with eir Sport having acquired the rights, meaning the majority of households will be unable to watch games.

Failing to secure high-profile events is a frustrating but ultimately inevitable aspect of the business, while another potential problem is the rise of the internet and its increasing grip on the public’s attention spans at the expense of TV.

TG4 Peil na mBan.

Source: Brendan Moran/SPORTSFILE

It was recently revealed that viewership figures for both the Premier League and the NFL have decreased markedly of late. TG4 may have the advantage of being free-to-air but when it sees a channel with the endless resources of Sky Sports finding it difficult to persuade viewers to tune in, there must be some concern.

“Even with my own kids, everything now is iPads, YouTube, Netflix,” Ó Coisdealbha says. ”They’re not watching linear television, they’re not going to sit down at six or seven o’clock. It’s more on-demand now.

But from a sports point of view, if it’s Munster against Leinster in the Pro12 and we have it live, then it’s live, and live content is still a big puller.

“Sky Sports are in a different boat to us because we’re a free-to-air terrestrial broadcaster. We have a 100% reach in households in Ireland and a huge advantage over the likes of EirSport, who’ve fallen off Virgin Media now.

When sponsors come talk to us about programmes or distributors who want to distribute their content on TG4, we have a huge advantage being in every household in Ireland.

“When Sky say that their Premier League ratings are down, I don’t know is it because people are watching Match of the Day more or a lot of people will see goals on Twitter, or they’re available online and maybe (with) illegal streams of games, so things are changing.”

GAA Beo.

Source: Piaras Ó Mídheach/SPORTSFILE

But while technology and unique initiatives may be altering people’s viewing habits to an extent and prompting a degree of uncertainty about the future of TV in the process, Ó Coisdealbha remains confident TG4 can continue to engage sports fans for another 20 years and beyond.

Sport is very important to the TG4 scheduling so at the moment, we’re doing a lot of GAA and rugby, we get really good viewership, so I would hope that we’d continue to offer that for the coming years.

“But also, the other sports — we do live basketball, we were doing the national finals in January, we work very closely with the IABA in boxing, the Tour de France we have the rights of until the end of 2019.

You can plan for a few years ahead and say we’re going to cover the following events, but things change, other properties and rights become available in the sports market. You just don’t know how the markets or budgets will be in 10 years’ time, you don’t know what effect the digital age is going to have on linear television.”

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Brian Hogan (2016) and Keith Hogan (2015) are recent Kilkenny county winning captains

FOR THE SECOND successive year on Sunday, it was a member of the Hogan family who was lifting the cup after the Kilkenny senior hurling final.

The novelty lay in the fact that they both play for different clubs.

On Sunday, Brian Hogan was savouring leading O’Loughlin Gaels to glory a year after his brother Keith had done the same for Clara.

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Sunday’s victory sparked celebrations for the multiple Kilkenny All-Ireland winner, in stark contrast to the dejection at losing the decider a year previously.

“Last year was a bit of an awkward situation,” admitted Hogan, when speaking to TG4′s GAA BEO after the game.

“I’m just after coming from having a few words with my brother. He’s delighted for me. Look I was delighted for him last year.

“Obviously there was huge disappointment at losing on a personal level. It was a complicated situation. Thankfully we don’t have that situation this year. It’s a fantastic moment.”

Keith and Brian Hogan in opposition in the 2015 Kilkenny county final

Source: Donall Farmer/INPHO

Brian and Keith Hogan embrace after the 2015 Kilkenny county final

The background to how the brothers ended up playing for different clubs stems from when Brian was born, the Hogan family lived in Kilkenny city and he played for the local O’Loughlin Gaels club.

The family then moved to Clara, just outside Kilkenny city, before Keith was born.

Brian continued to play for O’Loughlin Gaels as he stayed going to St John’s NS in Kilkenny city. Keith attended primary school in Clara and that then became his club.

A 2016 county final face-off was prevented when Clara lost out at the semi-final stage this year to Ballyhale Shamrocks, who then lost out 0-19 to 1-12 against O’Loughlin Gaels on Sunday.

Brian Hogan with his son Jack after Sunday’s game

Source: James Crombie/INPHO

The success marked O’Loughlin Gaels fourth Kilkenny senior hurling crown with Brian Hogan a constant feature in all of those wins – 2001, 2003, 2010 and 2016.

The target now will be to emulate their achievement in 2003 and 2010 by progressing to win in Leinster. A semi-final against Offaly’s St Rynagh’s or Wexford’s Oulart-the-Ballagh awaits on 20 November.

“The first in the club’s history (was) in 2001, I was on the team and it’s a memory that stuck with me forever.

“The guys up there, it sounds a bit cheesy, but they’re my brothers in terms of growing up hurling with them and training with them every second night.

Henry Shefflin congratulates Brian Hogan after Sunday’s game

Source: James Crombie/INPHO

“It’s just fantastic to go back up to the club now and meet the people you’ve grown up hurling with, coached you and everything.

“To be at the top of Kilkenny hurling, it’s so difficult. To have got there is just a great feeling.”

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Limerick will be in action in Division 1B next season

Source: Ryan Byrne/INPHO

MUNSTER SENIOR WINNERS James Ryan and Paudie O’Brien have not been named in the first Limerick senior hurling squad selected by new manager John Kiely, but there is a recall for attacker Seanie Tobin.

Kiely, who has taken over from TJ Ryan, has released his primary 39-man Limerick panel ahead of a 2017 season which will see them feature in Division 1B of the Allianz hurling league and face Clare in the Munster semi-final.

Garryspillane player Ryan and Kilmallock’s O’Brien are two well-known players not included with both starting in the 2013 Munster senior final triumph against Cork. Ryan is understood to be considering his inter-county future.

Limerick hurler Paudie O’Brien

Source: James Crombie/INPHO

Murroe-Boher forward Tobin also played in that game but returns to the panel after departing last March due to a lack of game time in the spring.

• 2013 Munster title winning forward departs the Limerick senior hurling panel

Wayne McNamara has retired since the 2016 championship concluded while forward Kevin Downes is a long-term absentee after tearing his cruciate ligament injury.

New players that have been named include Kyle Hayes, who captained Limerick in September’s All-Ireland minor hurling final, and Stephen Cahill, who lined out for the Limerick senior footballers this summer.

Robbie Hanley and Robbie Egan – who played for Kilmallock in the 2015 All-Ireland senior club final – along with 2016 All-Ireland club victor with Na Piarsaigh, Peter Casey, are also drafted in.

Na Piarsaigh player Peter Casey

Source: Cathal Noonan/INPHO

Seamus Flanagan (Feohanagh-Castlemahon) and Lorcan Lyons (Monaleen) are other promising youngsters that are called up.

Kiely has included the entire Limerick starting side that he steered to glory in the 2015 All-Ireland U21 final victory against Wexford.

Limerick hurling manager John Kiely

Source: Tommy Dickson/INPHO

The panel is likely to be open-ended with club commitments set to potentially dictate involvement in the early stages of the 2017 season as Patrickswell and Monaleen are both featuring in Munster club clashes next Sunday.

Limerick Hurling Panel

1. Declan Hannon (Adare)
2. John Fitzgibbon (Adare)
3. Dan Morrissey (Ahane)
4. Tom Morrissey (Ahane)
5. Richie McCarthy (Blackrock)
6. Paul Browne (Bruff)
7. Sean Finn (Bruff)
8. Richie English (Doon)
9. Pat Ryan (Doon)
10. Darragh O’Donovan (Doon)
11. Nicky Quaid (Effin)
12. Seamus Flanagan (Feoghanagh/Castlemahon)
13. David McCarthy (Glenroe)
14. Kyle Hayes (Kildimo/Pallaskenry)
15. Barry O’Connell (Kildimo/Pallaskenry)
16. Gavin O’Mahoney (Kilmallock)
17. Barry Hennessy (Kilmallock)
18. Graeme Mulcahy (Kilmallock)
19. Robbie Egan (Kilmallock)
20. Robbie Hanley (Kilmallock)
21. Tom Condon (Knockaderry)
22. Andrew La Touche Cosgrave (Monaleen)
23. Lorcan Lyons (Monaleen)
24. Seamus Hickey (Murroe/Boher)
25. Seanie Tobin (Murroe/Boher)
26. Alan Dempsey (Na Piarsaigh)
27. Shane Dowling (Na Piarsaigh)
28. Ronan Lynch (Na Piarsaigh)
29. Michael Casey (Na Piarsaigh)
30. Peter Casey (Na Piarsaigh)
31. David Dempsey (Na Piarsaigh)
32. Colin Ryan (Pallasgreen)
33. Seanie O’Brien (Patrickswell)
34. Diarmaid Byrnes (Patrickswell)
35. Kevin O’Brien (Patrickswell)
36. Cian Lynch (Patrickswell)
37. Barry Nash (South Liberties)
38. Gearóid Hegarty (St. Patrick’s)
39. Stephen Cahill (Tournafulla)

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Conor Nash (right) at Irish International Rules training last November

Source: James Crombie/INPHO

TEEN PRODIGY CONOR Nash has admitted that turning his back on Meath GAA and Leinster rugby to forge an Aussie Rules career was a ‘massive call’ for him.

Nash’s last game of Gaelic football came at the weekend when he powered Simonstown Gaels to a maiden Meath SFC title success.

Meath legend Trevor Giles said recently that Nash is a GAA superstar in waiting while Leinster rugby wanted to sign him up to their academy.

Conor Nash in action for Leinster U18’s in 2014

Source: Ken Sutton/INPHO

That would have meant studying at UCD for the 18-year-old who completed his Leaving Cert this year and a potential professional career on his doorstep.

But the sky-scraping midfielder passed it all up for the opportunity to make his name in Australia with Hawthorn who won a three-in-a-row of AFL titles between 2013 and 2015.

“It was a massive call for me,” admitted Nash.

“It was probably back in February that I was offered the deal by Hawthorn. I went out and then came back and was given a lot of time to make a decision.

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“Rugby was a massive opportunity for me and if I’d stayed, I would be playing rugby, hopefully with Leinster up in UCD.

Conor Nash playing in an Ireland U18 Clubs International in 2015

Source: James Crombie/INPHO

“The rugby boys, the Leinster lads, they were very sound and said, ‘look, if you do come back then you’re certainly not off the books’.”

Hawthorn have been tracking Nash for three years and hope that living with Derry’s Conor Glass, another recruit from GAA, will stave off any homesickness.

Nash has been fine tuning his AFL skills for months with the help of Longford star and ex-Essendon player Michael Quinn.

He’s also received advice from former Aussie Rules players Tadhg Kennelly and Tommy Walsh from Kerry. Meath great Colm O’Rourke is Nash’s club boss at Simonstown and said he’d ‘love to see’ the wonder kid tearing it up for Meath at Croke Park some day.

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“Playing senior for Meath would certainly have been something I’d have liked to give a crack to,” said the former St Pat’s student.

“It can’t happen now. It might happen in a couple of years, we’ll see how things pan out.”

Nash struck two points in Sunday’s county decider.

But he flies out to Australia on November 15 and won’t be available for the club’s AIB Leinster championship clash with Rhode on Sunday week.

“It’s going to be a new experience, an opportunity to test myself,” he said. I think with the support network and the opportunities at Hawthorn, if I get stuck into training I know in my own head that I’ll be fine and that I’ll succeed.”

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Clerkin plays his club football with Currin.

Source: Donall Farmer/INPHO

THE LONGEST-SERVING inter-county Gaelic footballer in the country has announced his retirement.

Monaghan’s Dick Clerkin was the last player still in action to have made his inter-county debut in the 90′s, first lining out in the league for his county in the winter of 1999.

Clerkin made the announcement this morning in an excellent column written in the Irish Examiner newspaper.

The 34 year-old made 179 appearances for the county and in recent years, he finally enjoyed major success in Ulster, winning the 2013 and 2015 provincial senior football titles.

Clerkin paid tribute in his column to Monaghan’s achievements despite limited resources.

“I have witnessed a remarkable transformation in the psyche of Monaghan football during my career.

“Motivated by pride, sustained by hard work, validated with success. I am not going to patronise with thanks the countless people who have contributed to making Monaghan football what it is today.

“Striking an almost perfect balance between club and county, Monaghan football and all those responsible, should be held up as a shining example of what can be achieved with relatively limited resources.

“Supporters, administrators, sponsors, and mentors, all with a like-minded sense of duty and passion, for something bigger than ourselves.”

His last appearance in Monaghan colours was during their drawn Ulster semi-final with Donegal on 25 June at Kingspan Breffni Park. He came on as a substitute in that game but did not see game time in the replay or their subsequent shock qualifier loss to Longford.

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