Messages

TV3 has become the first Commercial free to air television station to gain a slice of the lucrative GAA Championships coverage with the news that the station will show Qualifiers and selected provincial semi-finals live next year.

The deal which has been negotiated with the GAA for a three year period offers a package of live and exclusive GAA action including provincial finals, provincial semi-finals and three football championship qualifiers.

The GAA are currently in negotiations with a number of different parties in relation to TV rights but TV3 are the only successful bidders in the first round of the process.

These rights cover the next three All-Ireland Championship seasons from 2008 to 2010 inclusive.

Commenting on today's announcement, Pat Kiely, TV3's Commercial Director said:  "We are delighted that the GAA has chosen TV3 as a partner broadcaster.  As Ireland's number one sport with unique Irish identity and heritage, live GAA coverage was a primary target for TV3.   

"Off the back of our success with the Rugby World Cup, we really look forward to working closely with the GAA to offer a fresh view on our national game for fans, old and new."

Definitely not John O'Loughlin and almost certain that Donie Kingston hasn't been approached either

    COMHAIRLE LAIGHEAN C.L.G.






IOMAINT



1.       CEATHARLOCH              v     CILL CHAINNIGH

2.                            1                  v     UIBH FHAILI       

3.       ATH CLIATH                    v     LOCH GARMAN

4.                             3                  v    LAOIS                 


CRAOBH:               2                 v              4



PEIL



1.       LOCH GARMAN               v     CILL DARA       

2.                        1                       v     LONGPHORT                       

3.       CEATHARLOCH               v     UIBH FHAILI

4.                         3                      v     IARMHI         

5.       CILL MHANTAIN              v      ATH CLIATH

6.                        5                       v     AN MHI             

7.      LU                                      v      LAOIS

8.                        2                        v                    4

9.                        6                        v                    7

CRAOBH:           8                       v                     9

The course record is actually 48 pocs which was set by Brendan Cummins a few years back

RTE are only showing one of the Qualifiers this Saturday live from Portlaoise - Galway v Meath at 4pm will be screened live on RTE 2.

There's also a double header of ladies football action on TG4 on Saturday evening.

On Sunday the two All-Ireland Senior Hurling Quarter-finals will be broadcast live on RTE2

I'd actually the pleasure of seeing some of the Kilkenny Intermediate final involving James Stephens as I was part of the 'spillover' from the Feile na nGael finals. I'd to leave before half-time of the first match due to work committments that evening but I have to say I was happily enjoying the 'football' until the game turned into soccer for about a minute. It was later explained to me that none of the players train for football (of the Gaelic variety!) It's no wonder that soccer is so popular in Kilkenny when Gaelic football is neglected.

And they didn't find the Mic for the PA system either! I was up in the press box since the feile finals and the officials coming up to the pressbox to realise they had no programmes or a mic was a little bit comic or was it!!!

It's a personal bug-bear of mine , how Kilkenny promote football - I'd only wish for Gaelic games in general that they would do something about it. They did contest the Leinster Junior football championship this year but failed to contest the shield competition, one which was created especially for them and the promotion of football in the county!

How in God's name did we manage to lose that game I'll never know. Fair play to Cork though - a draw would have been the ideal scoreline for both teams near the end but it just wasn't to be. If anything last nights game of football shows that their is no need to abolish this grade of championship - that was easily Laois's best game of football all year and they still lost.

Both the U21 Football and hurling championships produce better fare in my opinion that the Minor championships. Any opinions on that?

Cadbury's All-Ireland Under 21 Football Championship Final

Cork 2-10
Laois 0-15
By Cóilín Duffy
At Semple Stadium

An injury-time Daniel Goulding pointed free ensured Cork took the Cadbury's All-Ireland Under 21 Football Championship title for the first time since 1994 following a pulsating game of football at Semple Stadium, Thurles last night.

The sides were level on nine occasions during this game and it took that late Goulding point to seal victory.

Laois rued their 15 wides in this game including a late chance from 16 year-old Donie Kingston to help put them into the lead in injury-time.

Both sides had needed replays to separate them at Minor level three years ago and in the Under 21 championship last year and in the opening half of this game, it looked like another close affair was on the cards with the sides level on five occasions in the opening 24 minutes.

Early nerves were certainly evident in the opening stages of this game with Cork kicking two chances for scores wide of the target while their Midland counterparts had one chance of a score within the opening four minutes.

Remarkably Cork were not to kick wide of the target for the remainder of the half as clinical finishing helped to reap huge dividends.

David Conway opened the scoring after six minutes for Laois and the brother of Senior star Chris; went on to score two further points over the remainder of the opening half with defenders John O'Loughlin and Niall Donoher along with MJ Tierney for the Midlanders.

Points from Colm O'Neill, Daniel Goulding (3) and Fiachra Lynch ensured the sides were level five points apiece, six minutes before the interval but Laois then hit a bright patch and pulled three points clear thanks to scores from David Conway and MJ Tierney (2) as injury-time approached.

However Cork had the final say before the interval with a well taken goal from Daniel Goulding to ensure the top scorer for the championship helped his side draw parity by the interval at 1-5 to 0-8.

Laois scored the first point of the second half from MJ Tierney but Daniel Goulding points from a 45 and a free ensured Cork were back in front.

Goulding could have so easily been Cork's villain as he kicked two scorable chances wide in the second half and as Laois came good once more they held a 0-14 to 1-9 lead with six minutes remaining thanks to points from Craig Rogers, Cadbury's Hero of the Match MJ Tierney (3) and Donie Brennan.

A late Cork goal from Colm O'Neill ensured the sides were level once more but it was Goulding's late kick which helped steal victory at the death.

Scorers:

CORK – Daniel Goulding (4f) (1 45) 1-6; Colm O'Neill 1-1; Fiachra Lynch, Stephen O'Donoghue, Paul Kerrigan 0-1 each.

LAOIS – Michael John Tierney (5f) 0-7; David Conway 0-3; Craig Rogers, Donal Brennan, Niall Donoher, Cathal Óg Greene, John O'Loughlin 0-1 each.

CORK: Ken O'Halloran (Bishopstown); Ray Carey (Clyde Rovers), Michael Shields (St. Finbarr's), Kevin Harrington (Bantry Blues); Stephen O'Donoghue (Ballincollig), David Limerick (Castlehaven), Eoin Cadogan (Douglas); Fintan Gould (Macroom), Andrew O'Sullivan (capt) (Castletownbere); Fiachra Lynch (Valley Rovers), Carthach Keane (Newcestown), Paul Kerrigan (Nemo Rangers); Colm O'Neill (Ballyclough), Daniel Goulding (Éire Óg), Seán Cahalane (Castlehaven). Subs: Roy Leahy (St. Finbar's) for Cahalane (41); Shane McCarthy (Douglas) for Lynch (56); Gearóid O'Shea (Nemo Rangers) for Keane (56).

LAOIS: Colm Munnelly (Arles/Kilcruise); Cahir Healy (capt) (Portlaoise), Mark Timmons (Graiguecullen), Brian Meredith (O'Dempsey's); Stephen Lawlor (Stradbally), John O'Loughlin (Mountmellick), Niall Donoher (Courtwood); Brendan Quigley (Timahoe), Cathal Óg Greene (Park/Ratheniska); Donie Brennan (Arles/Killeen), Craig Rogers (Portlaoise), Stephen O'Leary (O'Dempsey's); Michael John Tierney (Ballyroan), Shane O'Neill (Graiguecullen), David Conway (Arles/Kilcruise). Subs: Donie Kingston (Barrowhouse) for O'Neill (38); Ian Fleming (Graiguecullen) for O'Leary (44)


REFEREE: Vincent Neary (Mayo)

As a GAA journalist I may as well give my 'two cents' to help you see things from the other side of the coin. In general GAA journalists don't experience too many problems over the course of the year but like any other job it's always going to have it's up's and down's - I concur with alot of what has already been said here but for the sake of singling out any particular publication or broadcast media I'll just give a few general points.

The days of finding GAA players and managers hard to come by before big games for interviews isn't quite what you would expect. Press Conferences and press nights are helping to give journalists better access to players and management teams but as someone already pointed out and as a lover of hurling I've only ever been at a press conference once which had a hurler from a so-called weaker county (Armagh) and this was organised by the GPA! Column inches are dictated by Editors and in turn Sports Editors and rightly or wrongly apparently there is a huge interest in English soccer in this country and that's why it gets the coverage - not my viewpoint let me add.

I mentioned Press night's above and last night both Cavan and Longford had press nights ahead of their upcoming championship games. I was at the Cavan one which was well organised and all the journalists who turned up certainly left happy

While TV rights are up for negotiation this year, talking to Nickey Brennan on Wednesday it seems that everyone will get a slice of the pie and we shouldn't be too worried about pay-per-view just yet. What's just as interesting is the way the National Radio rights will be negotiated; particularly now that Newstalk are a national station.

The Ulster Media v the Southern Media is a debate certainly worth having, in my opinion the two best national newspapers for GAA aren't based in Dublin.

On an added note how is Gaelic Life doing these days? Are Ulster fans happy with it - now that we are approaching the championship?

To quote Liam Mulivihill's Annual Report to Congress this year that the amount of media covering our games is at an unprecedented level. And to say this is certainly true, there is more and more being demanded from the GAA journalists of this world and that should reflect in the level of coverage that is put out; but as always it could still be greater

If you want to PM me about other issues feel free.

Well since noone has picked up on this yet. Mugsy was  cleared to play by the CHC last night in Tyrone's Ulster SFC clash with Fermanagh on May 20th.

Any views from the Mayo fans on the sliding tackle concerned, did Mulligan deserve to get off?

Was outside the meeting - here's my piece if ye are interested in a read!

Mulligan available for Ulster Championship Opener
By Cóilín Duffy
From Croke Park

Tyrone forward Owen Mulligan has had the red card which he received for a 'sliding tackle' against Mayo in the NFL on April 8th rescinded meaning that the Cookstown man is now free to play for the Red Hand County against Fermanagh in the Ulster SFC on May 20th.

Mulligan appeared before the GAA's Central Hearings Committee last night at Croke Park and in a hearing which lasted just eight minutes the Tyrone attacker was cleared of all wrongdoing for what a GAA source described as a 'lazy tackle'.

Tyrone manager Mickey Harte and County Board secretary Dominic McGaughey accompanied Mulligan to the meeting at GAA Headquarters.

Harte was understandably delighted with the outcome.

"It's great news and it's great that a system is in place that if someone is sent off and it is deemed not to be accurate. If  people later can make a different call on it, I think that's great and I'm delighted that the result has gone that way," Harte stated as he emerged from the meeting.

Meanwhile former All-Ireland winning Captain DJ Kane wasn't so lucky at last night's meeting.

The current Down selector was reprimanded for his involvement in pitch incursions during his county's NFL game against Galway on April 8th.

After the weekends action I'm a bit worried that Laois won't do the business in the decider, however some heart can be taken from the fact that Cork really let Armagh back into the game in the second half today and were very lucky not to be beaten. O'Rourke's late goal chance in injury time for Armagh could have so easily went the wrong way.

It was three years ago when the teams met at Minor level in Limerick with Laois winning the refixture in Thurles. At U21 level Cork beat Laois after a replay in last year's All-Ireland semi-final so it's certainly very hard to call the final. Although Cork may be the favourites, Laois can be written off at your peril as they have certainly improved consistently with each game in this years championship right through from the opening round in Leinster.

Final is May 5th or 6th in either Limerick or Thurles. I'd be hoping for the Saturday in Thurles as Laois will not want a repeat performance of the first Saturday in May in 1998 when we lost our last final to Kerry especially since we have yet to lift All-Ireland silverware in the competition despite contesting the first final in 1964!!

I've watched Laois, Offaly and Cork live in action this year and have seen a DVD of Mayo's Connacht title win. Looking at Cork firstly they had it very tough to get over Tipperary in the Munster Final and will certainly have learned alot from that game. Their manager Tony Leahy feels that Laois should pull through in Leinster - this is a Laois under 21 team that at minor level was reckoned to be better than their counterparts who won the All-Ireland title the previous year. Mayo have lost a few of last year's side but are a formidable outfit. Don't know a huge amount about Armagh or Monaghan but the form book to date this year suggests that both Armagh and Laois will pull through Saturday's provincial deciders. Mayo and Cork is a very tough semi-final to predict and to be honest it's really anyones guess as to what side will take All-Ireland silverware this year

Well the debate fest that is the GAA Congress is kicking off tomorrow in Kilkenny - although mild in comparision to previous years there are some interesting motions up for discussion including a new proposal from the Rule Book Task Force (think this is in relation to discipline)
5. Eligibility rule for College teams in McKenna Cup
11. Hurling officer being introduced to County Committees
15. Debarring college teams from provincial and All-Ireland Club Championships
16. Allowing Divisional teams, with restrictions, to compete in the Club Championships
17. Changes to the playoff arrangements of the hurling Championships
18. HDC's new hurling format
22. Temp subs in higher grade Championship games allowed on without affecting their Championship status
28. Blood sub rule ammended

Anyone heading to it from the GAA Board? Any of ye youngsters going as Under 21 delegates?

I know nobody knows what's in the document yet, but where does this leave our Northern brethern?

Perhaps the new Executive will look after their "expenses" as well?

Believe it will apply across both jurisdictions equally, i.e., as administered centrally from Dublin.

But surely the Irish government won't be giving grants to Northern Irish taxpayers.

Asked Nickey Brennan about this yesterday and he quickly rubbished my question saying that the GAA is a 32 county organisation. This leads me to believe that the grants won't come in the form of tax credits or such but as something which resembles the current setup re mileage through the GAA.

My article from today's Irish News on the issue is below:

Northern players in line for an Irish grant 
Gaelic Games 
By Coilin Duffy 

GAA players in the six counties will benefit from any grants system implemented by the Irish Government, Association President Nickey Brennan has confirmed.

Although the funding will come from the government in Dublin, this will not hamper players based in the north according to Brennan.

It had been believed that the grants may come in the form of tax relief, but now this seems unlikely following Brennan's comments.

"The GAA is a 32-county organisation as far as we are concerned, and any grants scheme will apply to county teams on the whole island, the border is not relevant in this case," Brennan said.

"The government of the south will supply the money for the whole 32 counties, it is not relevant to the administration in the north," he added.

The GAA and GPA each issued statements yesterday that both sides have submitted a proposal to the government in relation to player grants, and Brennan is satisfied with the progress that has been made.

"There have been discussions between the two bodies over a number of months now, and the proposals have now ended with a submission to the government in the next 24 hours.

"I'm happy it has got to this stage now and we now need to give time to the minister and his officials to clear the matter," Brennan said.

This news comes a year after the GPA held an emergency EGM in Portlaoise to ballot their members on the issue of player welfare grants.

"Perhaps they will need to seek some clarifications, which is there right if such is the case, and we look forward to dealing with them in relation to this.

"We are certainly not putting any time constraints on the minister. He has a heavy agenda and I'm sure his people will give consideration to this at the earliest possible time."

The president was happy with the negotiations involving all parties, but is keen to stress that at no time was professional status on the agenda.

"We have had a good negotiating team as have had the GPA, and we have to ensure that any issue surrounding grants did not compromise our amateur status, that was very important to us."

"Once the background was established quite quickly, we were able to move along and get an

agreement to submit to the government."

Brennan doesn't foresee that the allocation of player grants, in whatever format they take, will be hard to police, particularly when some players may only appear on county panels as subs in the National League for instance.

"We know life in the GAA is never clear-cut, but it is not beyond the ingenuity and wisdom of various officials to come up with a scheme to accommodate that, and I'm sure it will be the least of our concerns."

"We know we can come up with a scheme that is fair to all participants no matter how long they may or may not be on a county panel."

The news comes on the same day as the new Player Burnout Taskforce met last night at Croke Park under the chairmanship of Dr Pat O'Neill of Dublin.

Happy Christmas one and all!! It's a blue, blue Christmas here in Laois without Sam or Liam!!

Take her easy

Speaking to Leinster Council Chairman Liam O'Neill yesterday he reckons it will be a toss so either O'Connor Park or St. Conleth's Park. Failing a toss the game will be played in O'Moore Park, Portlaoise. Venue to be decided tonight.