‘We can watch Cape Verde but...not Cork’

There was frustration and bemusement at County Hall this week as councillors once again pleaded for our national sports to be made freely available for all to watch in TV.

Leading the call was Fine Gael Cllr Brendan McCarthy whose motion asked that inter-county senior football and hurling games from 2027 onwards be made available for all to view on free-to-air television in Ireland. Highlighting a season of heavily restricted GAA broadcasts, Cllr McCarthy said all 104 games of the World Cup are available on free-to-air television. He said: “The World Cup has been wonderful, and there are some fabulous games, but we need to promote our own national games more than we are currently.

“We had a situation of Cork being drawn away to Donegal in Ballybofey, as far away as you could go to play a match, and this match was not available to watch at all.”

Independent Cllr Willie O'Leary echoed Cllr McCarthy’s sentiments regarding the World Cup, pointing out the irony of what is available to watch for free versus what is paywalled.

He said: “What has annoyed me, and really it's been over the last month with the World Cup, that we can watch Cape Verde free to air, but we can't watch the Cork footballers free to air, you know?”

For West Cork's rural and elderly populations, the shift to subscription streaming has proved particularly isolating.

Cllr Gobnait Moynihan (Fianna Fáil) shared a poignant personal example. “I’m thinking in particular of people like my own father, who won an All-Ireland with Cork 60 years ago, and after giving so much to Gaelic games, now finds himself unable to watch some inter-county championship matches because they aren't available on his television.”

The council will write to the GAA and Minister for Sport calling for inter-county senior football and hurling games to be made freely available for all to enjoy from their homes.