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Kerry are the one team this year who I've felt have been playing their cards very close to their chest, that or they've just been pretty poor. Seeing that's it's Kerry we'll have to give them the benefit of the  doubt I suppose. I remember thinking Derry had moved ahead of them in the pecking order but the league reslly is just the league. I'd be tempted to back them for the AI at this stage- not that it would be a huge shock if they won.

Joe Kernan said last week that the the only serious teams were Dublin, Armagh, Derry, Mayo and Galway.  We needn't worry about the likes of Donegal and Kerry for Sam, although they are nice to visit.

Would definitely have Donegal ahead of Mayo and maybe Kerry as well at this stage, never rule out the Tyronies as well.

Donegal have beaten one of the teams on that list and drawn with another one. It is hard to say about Kerry, while their group means that they will probably go to a QF, they could have challenges in both the QF and SF.

It's a shame for sure, but if other broadcasters valued the rights enough, they'd be trying to get a package. Sky didn't walk away for no reason.

Sky's model is not the same as TV3 though, one is selling subscriptions to a subset of people and one is selling advertising for the general public. As for trying to get a package, part of the story here is the way the product is divided up. You can set things up to get the most coverage, the most revenue, or something in between. If I was the GAA then I would have a regular chat with TV3 or even UTV and see what they might be interested in. We all recall the magazine programme that the UTV did in the past, which was OK, but they couldn't get the rights to show clips on it, this never made sense.

There is a slight lack of transparency on this
https://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/virgin-media-throw-further-fuel-on-gaago-fire-with-hard-hitting-statement-aimed-at-gaa-and-rte/a483613199.html

Then people have to accept that there is a limit to what RTE can or will show. They can't have wall to wall GAA over the course of a weekend, especially if legally obliged to have the two finals from Sunday on.

There is a limit to how much can be shown. As a poster on boards.ie put it, if there was wall to wall GAA on RTÉ all weekend then he'd be happy but he would be in a minority in his own house.
But live coverage is desirable, it is a pity that TV3 have ended up doing nothing. The Cork-Limerick game would have got a good audience and so attracted advertisers. TV3 did reasonable job before Sky, but after the Sky deal ended there was a suggestion that the GAA were more interested in pushing GAAGo than TV3 having some games. The joint ownership of GAAGo by RTÉ does make you wonder about some of these things.

It is GAA elite's attempts to carve up our national games and privatise and sell off the profitable, prestige games. Our best and most high profile games should be available to all grass roots GAA members via our national broadcaster. Jarlath's efforts to play the man and not the ball in this debate betrays the weakness of his argument.

Only the high profile games, so half the counties would never appear? Is that the GAA you want?

I don't believe there is a significant cohort who as you say:

1) Are elderly
2) Gave their life to the GAA
3) Are too sick to go to games
4) Cannot afford to go to a game
5) Family cannot afford to buy them a ticket
6) Family will not take them to the pub to see it.

This is the sentimental nonsense Jarlath Burns was talking about.

This is rather callous, not everyone has family or is up to travelling several hours to games, walking to the ground and standing for 2 hours. They are not the only people, but there should be efforts made to facilitate as many people as possible.

Why backwards and not forwards?

Not sure, the past has so much about it. The future looks bleak lol!

There speaks an Antrim supporter. The future is bright, the future is Orange.

Thankfully cooler heads prevailed and we returned to win our second Ulster the following year.

They could still change, this would leave an even number in Ulster and you'd get to see them every few years in NY.

Saturday 25th Louth v Meath, Grattan Park, Inniskeen, 5.30pm

There might be a right few Louth people going to that, having put on a decent show at the weekend. They might have fitted in a few more had they used Crossmaglen or Newry, but I suppose the latter is needed for Down games.

Really not a fan of the "elderly person with no broadband" argument. This demographic got through 80% of their lives with knockout championships and minimal tv coverage. They're not losing out on something if they never really had it. And even if they did have it, their parents didn't, so why should they? It's a futile, nonsense attempt to tug on heartstrings, most commonly chorused by stay at home supporters who like to watch soccer and whatever is on YouTube at the same time.

I'll always say that GAA Go went about things arse faced. Had they done the Netflix / Now TV route and made the software easy to use and access first, then more secure later, it would now only be a year or two from being a staple purchase that just floats out of almost every bank account in Ireland every month.

But they've invested all their tech time to date in making it difficult to steal. Which means they're picking up customers only because they're forced into it, rather than because they're curious. Which is not the right way to start up, and is the fundamental driver of the current angst.

Absolutely. Say they provided an easy to use setup and showed free games midweek that had been on the previous week, then people would use it and then perhaps pay the required fee to upgrade to see the games live. Say they had a game of the week free from Tuesday, that could be Cork v Limerick this week.

A bit of care with the app should ensure that pretty much anyone can use it and there is a suggestion that clubs might have a few techie volunteers to help club stalwarts.

Also the GAA should better integrate the different streaming options, so that if you get it working then it all works, so that you don't have different issues with ArmaghTV, UlsterGAATV and GAAGo. You need a technical platform that different providers can feed into. Then you have the ridiculous situation in the autumn that TG4 shows the club games, but are prohibited from showing these outside Ireland, but GAAGo don't bother their arse showing them outside Ireland although the video feed is already available.

Somebody needs to have good look at the whole thing.

Westmeath is a dangerous match but at least we are forewarned having played them last year. It's probably the critical match in the group for us since if we beat them we are almost guaranteed last 12. Management have a big job picking the players up after Sunday now. Barring injuries or knocks I wouldn't make too many changes either given how well we played for 3/4 of the game on Sunday. Maybe just freshen the team up with one or two players. They are quite a defensive outfit as well so it could be worth starting Oisin O'Neill as we will need to be able to pick off scores from long range against them.

I presume there are scenarios where score difference could determine second and third place, so given that we have them at home then we should aim to win by more than the minimum.

I'm not sure what is the situation with Oisin O'Neill's fitness. He looked rightly in recent games, but I expect they were building him up, as he would get his place on talent. Likewise with Nugent, who is now looking more like his 2022 self.

What is the big deal about what Cavanagh has said anyway?. The GAA has cash in the bank and is asset rich therefore some people might think it is a wealthy organisation. Bit of an over reaction from Burns IMO.

It has cash in the bank and a thousand uses for that cash, free streaming would be somewhere in the 900s on that list. 

But surely its all relative, while (as far as I can see) at the end of 2023 there was 'cash' of circa €45,000,000 there are proposal capital projects of circa €500,000,000 in the coming years (if Burns is to be believed), as such having cash in the bank is irrelevant.

Sean Cavanagh is an embarrassment. Everyone knows that the GAA is going to have to uprate its contribution to Casement to at least reflect inflation and that would in itself use up a large part of that sum. And even if the whole Euros thing collapses they are still going to have to spend a significant amount on some sort of stadium there and perhaps a refurbishment of Clones if the big scheme in Belfast is reduced. No doubt HQ has to make contributions to the likes of the projects in Louth, Meath and Kildare, that would account for most of the remainder. People are always calling for expenditure on this and that.

Wouldn't mind seeing some changes, definitely think Nugent and Duffy should in from the start and Oisin O'Neill should see far more game time. Grugan, Murnin, Forker etc played most of the league and have plenty of miles in the legs. Would definitely start Rian though as he didn't play much in the league and could do with more football.

Exactly.

Not taking them lightly but you'd rest near half your team including some of your main players? Interesting..

No, you are starting your subs, not as much of a change as you might think.

There is a great deal of shite on discussed on this matter. Some guy was on the radio there, likely a politician, saying that "Sky had been better as most people have Satellite TV", which is completely untrue, while in reality far more people have broadband. He then said that it should be on RTÉ and advertisers would bid for slots, but RTÉ hasn't much money to give to the GAA and there are people who are not paying their TV licence ranting about games not being on TV.
There is a loss of visibility to the GAA in not having this game on TV, and that too has its price, but there has to accurate discussion of the situation, not fantasy. For one thing, RTÉ is supposed to serve everyone and this aim might not be compatible with having 20 hours of GAA each weekend. Virgin Media does nothing, which it would if advertisers really were interested.