At a photocall in Montrose today, RTÉ Sport announced details of its comprehensive GAA Championship 2008 coverage across RTÉ Television, RTÉ Radio and RTÉ.ie.
RTÉ Television’s The Sunday Game will celebrate its 30th year with a number of new innovations, while RTÉ Radio will provide live and exclusive coverage of the Championship. On-line, RTÉ.ie will add a dedicated web channel to its highly successful GAA site.
Now in its 30th year, Michael Lyster will present The Sunday Game for his 25th season, with Pat Spillane returning for highlights and analysis every Sunday night throughout the Championship.
Broadcasting up to 40 live games, The Sunday Game will be further strengthened by three new panellists. Joining the team will be Davy Fitzgerald, former Clare hurling goalkeeper and twice an All Ireland SHC winner; Declan Ruth, former Wexford hurler and All-Ireland SHC winner; and former Dublin captain and All-Star winner, Coman Goggins.
RTÉ’s flagship GAA programme will continue to innovate, with brand new results and analysis features as well as the provision of a dedicated match centre in RTÉ. This year’s Sunday Game programme will see the introduction of a brand new state-of the-art analysis tool known as “PIERO”. Specially adapted for Gaelic Games and exclusive to The Sunday Game, new features will include player tracking, distance to posts and speed of the ball. Joanne Cantwell will join Pat Spillane each Sunday night for a new in-depth analysis segment and, in a brand new feature of The Sunday Game Live, Joanne Cantwell will also be providing the latest news, views and results live from the GAA match centre in RTÉ.
Also new for this year’s Championship is a brand new dedicated web channel on RTÉ.ie. The GAA Media Player will be the hub for fans, with the latest video and audio content on all things Gaelic Games. The site will feature all of RTÉ’s GAA output, including live coverage, highlights, news, interviews and features from across RTÉ Television, RTÉ Radio and RTÉ News. The Sunday Game, Take Your Point and The Road To Croker are just some of the programmes that will be available on demand.
The GAA Media Player will be part of RTÉ.ie’s dedicated GAA Championship site, which last year received six million page impressions. The site will continue to feature expert analysis, live text match-trackers, exclusive podcast material, picture galleries, Championship schedules and interactive features, as well as news, previews and match reports.
RTÉ Radio 1 will provide the most comprehensive national radio coverage of the Championships. The renowned team of Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh, Brian Carthy, Adrian Eames, John Kenny, Pauric Lodge, Siobhan Madigan, Martin Kiely and Clem Ryan will provide commentaries and reports on all of the Championship action.
Sunday Sport, presented by Jimmy Magee for the last 30 years, will be the flagship radio programme for the Championships, with additional programmes being broadcast on Saturday evenings for the qualifiers. Take Your Point with Con Murphy will return on Sunday the 1st of June at 6.05pm for analysis and reaction to the afternoon’s games. During the week Drivetime Sport with Des Cahill at 6.30pm-7.00pm will follow all the breaking stories, while this year Brian Carthy’s Championship programme will be featured each week in the early part of Saturday Sport.
On RTÉ News, Jonathan Mullin, RTÉ’s new Gaelic Games correspondent will provide reports on all the latest championship developments and breaking news stories.
Group Head of Sport, Glen Killane, RTÉ, said; “It’s a testament to RTÉ’s GAA coverage that The Sunday Game continues to go from strength-to-strength 30 years on and that RTÉ Radio’s team are so widely respected and synonymous with GAA throughout the country. While the public recognise RTÉ’s proud tradition of Gaelic Games broadcasting, they have also enjoyed and engaged with our more recent initiatives. The Road To Croker and Take Your Point will both return this season after successful runs last year and we’ve had phenomenal response to our dedicated Championship site on RTÉ.ie which last year received six million page impressions. Our 2008 Championship coverage will include several new features, from our dedicated web channel on RTÉ.ie to our enhanced analysis features on The Sunday Game, we’re constantly innovating and improving our coverage to ensure that GAA fans can enjoy the highest quality Gaelic Games coverage across RTÉ’s wide range of platforms”.