was learning about how to fit in with television sports schedules. Ireland’s first match at the 1994 World Cup was played on Saturday, June 18th and ended in a momentous win over soccer heavyweights Italy in Giants Stadium.Leinster championship
Ireland’s presence at an international soccer tournament — still the one sporting context that completely absorbs public interest — was something the GAA was getting used to. Gone was the crackpot defiance of putting on championship fixtures in direct opposition to Ireland’s matches that briefly flourished in Ulster.
International tournaments, with or without Ireland, are big business for television companies. Among the complaints about the clash of media obligations that led to last Sunday’s fiasco at Central Council, was that no Irish teams were competing in either the URC final or Euro 24. Those agreements don’t work if one party can skip the bits that don’t suit them, like having to show the Bulls v Glasgow final live from Pretoria rather than Munster v Leinster live from Limerick.
In 2018, the World Cup semi-final between England and Croatia was the fourth most watched broadcast on RTÉ that year and outperformed both All-Ireland finals.quarter-finals for this coming Saturday, there were two options: fix them for the afternoon and evening and let them go ahead without television coverage or play them early.
At the time there were misgivings expressed that similar promises had been made about previous tiered championships, such as the Tommy Murphy Cup, and that those reassurances had incrementally disappeared.