LAST UPDATE | 28 Jan
CORK GAA HAVE responded to RTÉ’s claim that the county ‘could not accommodate’ televised coverage of Saturday night’s hurling league showdown with Limerick.
Rebels officials have revealed that the Division 1A fixture was not chosen for TV coverage at its designated throw-in time of 7.30pm, and that they were asked to bring the game forward to facilitate broadcasters.
Cork say that they declined to do so on the basis that the game would then clash with Ireland’s Six Nations opener against England, which kicks off at 4.45pm on Saturday.
Over 20,000 tickets have been sold for the game with only terrace tickets at the Blackrock End still available.
The game is not scheduled for live TV or streaming coverage, with RTÉ showing Armagh against Tyrone in Division 1 of the football league at 6pm, while TG4 have Donegal against Dublin in football live at 7.30pm.
Earlier on Tuesday, RTÉ said that they “sought Cork-Limerick in the Allianz Hurling League as our match selection a number of months ago but the counties could not accommodate.
“RTÉ subsequently chose Armagh-Tyrone.”
Cork CEO Kevin O’Donovan said: “Having been particularly surprised to hear from Croke Park a number of weeks ago that Cork v Limerick was not to be the chosen game by broadcasters at the appointed time on Saturday, February 1st @7.30pm, we were then asked if we wished to consider changing our game to an earlier time to facilitate broadcast.
“As this alternative time clashed directly with the Ireland v England Rugby game on the same evening, we sought not to deprive our own supporters of seeing both games.
“We remain disappointed that our fixture will not be televised at the appointed time, but look forward to another spectacle with a packed house here at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Saturday next.”
RTÉ sought Cork-Limerick in the Allianz Hurling League as our match selection a number of months ago but the counties could not accommodate.
— RTÉ GAA (@RTEgaa) January 28, 2025
RTÉ subsequently chose Armagh-Tyrone.
The combined capacity of the North Stand and South Stand at Páirc Uí Chaoimh is for 21,000 spectators, which will see the game surpass the 19,516 that attended the last league fixture between the counties at the stadium in February 2023, when Cork won out 2-17 to 0-22.
In February 2020, when the teams met on a Sunday afternoon at the stadium in the league, Limerick defeated Cork 0-29 to 2-21 before a crowd of 11,212.
Both encounters between the two sides in championship last summer were epic games before sellout crowds, a contributory factor towards the heightened anticipation for this league fixture.
In the Munster round-robin in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, Cork won out 3-28 to 3-26 in dramatic fashion, before the counties in July played before the highest ever attendance at Croke Park for an All-Ireland senior hurling semi-final, Cork prevailing 1-28 to 0-29.
Saturday night’s game marks a first outing of the season for John Kiely’s Limerick side after they had a bye last weekend in the seven-team Division 1A. Cork will play their first game at home after defeating Wexford away 2-21 to 0-12 last Saturday.
In the Munster championship, Limerick will host Cork at TUS Gaelic Grounds in Round 4 on the weekend of 17-18 May.
RTE can come up with any excuse it wants – the game should be live on television. There are four league matches being covered live on RTE and TnaG next Saturday and Sunday – all four of them are football. Not unreasonable for the GAA to insist on a 50/50 split between hurling and football.
@Aidan Farrell: football bore the hole off ya aswell.
@Niall English: Not really football though is it?
@Leonard Barry: Bogball, even calling it football is an insult to football.
@Aidan Farrell: . Oh stop the hurling whinging. Does it ever end? Kilkenny and Galway is being broadcast next weekend. Antrim and Westmeath is on BBC. For years now the National Hurling League has been an insipid shadow of what it could and should be. It has been little more than a series of glorified challenges. All any team had to do to stay up in the top flight was win one game. The top counties refused point blank to take it seriously and put all their eggs in the championship basket. The football league as a competition has been and continues to be miles ahead of the hurling league. Last weekend saw three hugely one sided games in Divisions 1A and 1B. Unless the top teams change their attitude to the hurling league then it will continue to be a pale shadow of what it should be.
@Aidan Farrell: contract is one game per weekend only
RTE can televise any game it wants through media rights deal only rugby matters in the private school brigade of d4
@Tony McGrath: did you even read the article. RTE state they wanted to show it but they couldn’t be accommodated
@John Buckley: maybe Tony should have went to a private school, he might have made a better job of reading the article
@Niall Boyle: should have gone*
@Tony McGrath: did you go to school at all Tony
How does one accommodate them
More like cork didnt want tv in so they get more punters in.
@Sean: doesn’t make sense.
Rte wanted the game 6.00 and refused to cover it at 7.30
My initial reaction was to blame RTE for another “head in the sand” decision but after reading the article I feel that the blame rests with the two County Boards involved. The decision was probably based on the view that not having it on TV would bolster the attendance considerably which is true given that the stands are fully booked already. If I were RTE I would be slow in asking the two county boards to accomodate them for the rest of the year.
@Jim Fitzhenry: how does the blame rest with Limerick county board Cork have clearly stated a reluctance to bring it forward so the Cork public get to see the rugby as well, Limerick support will be in transit so will have to listen to the rugby on the wireless.
@Michael Kennedy: To be fair, the article had been updated with Cork response since then. Rte look even more ridiculous now.
@Michael Kennedy: The article has been updated since I commented. It now looks RTE refused to televise the game at 7.30 preferring to show Dublin footballers at that time (what a surprise). In the circumstances Cork and Limerick (if they had any involvement in the decision) were perfectly correct in sticking to the original starting time. Again we get half truths from RTE. I think there is little doubt as to which game the public would rather see on TV.
@Jim Fitzhenry: OK, only saw updated article.
@Jim Fitzhenry: That’s true in certain parts of the country. In other parts of the country people would prefer to see the Donegal v Dublin game especially when you consider that Donegal’s game last week was postponed.
@Jim Fitzhenry: get facts right showing Armagh v Tyrone can read
@Michael Kennedy: Limerick rugby fans, of which there are many, should get there early so and watch it in the city.
Rte also said they would be television league of ireland that went well it must be true it was in an article
It is a shame that the game won’t be on tv. The league game two years ago was a cracker.
I think cork were right not to back down.
Why not sub it out to GAAGO or clubber TV.
Can you trust anything RTE says. They tell the truth but always there is more to the story. The word “accommodate” almost nondescript however translated means the GAA could not move the game to suit RTE. Had to laugh on an article today about the rugby player Prendergast RTE says and I quote “going on to start the next two wins against Fiji and Australia”. Again true but no indication that Ireland were losing the Australia game until Crowley came on to replace Prendergast. If you scan read you would think GAA were at fault and that Prendergast was responsible for victory over Australia.