An All-Ireland contest to savour after three poor deciders but interest must go beyond one day
A MOMENT TO honour Galway and Cork for delivering what the other finalists couldn’t.
After three poor contests, we were craving an All-Ireland final of high drama. Something to sign off on the inter-county season with a guttural yell.
Sunday’s offering of hard physical exchanges, red card controversy, and penalty tension was just the tonic. That’s before we even mention Carrie Dolan’s pressure free from near the sideline to win it, and the verbal sideswipes from both managers that followed the full-time whistle.
Cork boss Ger Manley assuredly said there were “no sour grapes” over the result before unleashing a tirade against referee Justin Heffernan over decisions against his team.
Cathal Murray fumed at an article in the Irish Examiner which he claimed was “f****** insulting” to his players ahead of the game. His spicy tone conjured up images of that famous clip from “A Year ‘Til Sunday” in which the late John O’Mahony holds up a newspaper during a team meeting with the 1998 Galway footballers. He bristles at an article accusing his players of being “fancy dans” before looking up at them and saying:
“There’s only one f****** answer for that.”
Carrie Dolan did something similar in her acceptance speech, highlighting a pop at her manager claiming Galway had a “fat chance of winning an All-Ireland with Murray in charge”. Ailish O’Reilly practically stood over Cork’s corpse when she looked down the Sunday Game camera and sniped at the three-in-a-row talk that disrespected her team.
And should the two teams make it back to Croke Park next year, Cork have lots of motivational material to hang on their dressing room wall for the trilogy title fight.
Galway and Cork gave us everything, and for that, we salute you. Our cups are truly full.
But where to now for camogie, and indeed Ladies football, after their usual blast of annual All-Ireland final day coverage? Back into the vault until finals day 2026.
We’ve been stuck in that phase for some time now as the rest of their respective seasons receive comparatively less attention. The games preceding the All-Ireland final are often reduced to wrap reports and short highlights packages on the night-time edition of the Sunday Game. It’s not total disregard, but we’re also not engaged with the trending storylines that develop throughout the season.
As a consequence, media preparation for the All-Ireland finals tends to feel like cramming for an exam. It becomes retrospective coverage. We end up in a scenario where we try to cover everything we’ve missed to hastily create a narrative.
Not that we should fall into the trap of comparing the coverage with the men’s codes, but it is worth observing the difference in how we preview those finals. The constant drip-feed of context throughout the year allows us to go beneath the surface level information and consider different angles and storylines for the big days in the hurling and men’s football. That all leads to more enlightened coverage.
TG4 have the broadcast rights for Ladies football due to their longstanding sponsorship arrangement. And credit must go to the Irish language station for consistently showing live games throughout the season. But even while accounting for that brilliant effort, it still feels like we fixate on the All-Ireland finals.
And to that point, the obsession with attendance numbers could be seen as a contributory factor to why coverage beyond All-Ireland finals has stalled. Reaching a certain figure for one triple-header of games is not the antidote when the attendance is so vastly different on other championship days.
Ladies football set a crowd record of 56,114 in 2019, which was an impressive feat considering the torrential rain that fell during the clash of Dublin and Galway that day.
The intrusion of Covid in the years after certainly didn’t help with building on that figure, but attendances have dropped since the Croke Park gates reopened. There was 45,326 at the 2023 final triple-header, and 30,340 turned out last year. There were more clicks through the turnstiles last weekend, as Dublin and Meath drew a crowd of 48,089 into Croke Park.
The turnout for camogie finals is even lower. Just 28,795 were present for that Galway-Cork thriller on Sunday, a number which was well below the 40,000 target that was set by camogie association president Brian Molloy.
Television dictates everything. Seeing the games live informs our opinions of the teams involved, the competitions and the sport on a broader note. Match reports and podcast segments can only do so much when we can’t visualise what is being discussed.
And while we have TG4 and GAA+ widening the selection and offering us more games to watch live than ever before, the Sunday Game remains the flagship programme. Despite the many complaints about the show, it sill provides the biggest platform for games.
It’s the reason why men’s football and hurling are always in a scrap for free-to-air coverage. And in an already condensed season where everyone is fighting for broadcasting position, where does one make room for camogie and Ladies football?
All-Ireland finals will always thrive as the men’s competitions have already been concluded. That gives them the entire promotional shop window. The other games, however, are overshadowed by what’s happening in the men’s codes. The camogie All-Ireland semi-final double-header was televised on RTÉ, but since that was the same weekend as the men’s football final, the camogie clashes were somewhat overlooked.
Perhaps, in the case of Ladies football, the media rights could be expanded to include RTÉ with a view to exploring a slot in the Sunday Game coverage. It may be an ambitious suggestion to aim for, but could a provincial final double-header on television be possible?
Considering that a merger of all four codes is coming in 2027, perhaps it’s time for the governing bodies to meet and consider such opportunities. We need a sincere effort to help spread the coverage of Ladies football and camogie. Of course, that would take a lot of planning to avoid excluding a headline fixture from the Sunday Game billing. It’s an almost impossible tightrope to walk.
But some collaborative thinking could possibly identify a vacancy. And maybe it will only be achievable once in the championship to start with. But something needs to happen to move the dial.
Growth can also be achieved on the back of social media clips showcasing great moments of skill and score-taking. Carla Rowe’s back-heeled goal in the All-Ireland semi-final against Galway is one stunning example. She combined both to become a viral hit. Her audacious effort became a big talking point in the build-up to the final.
11nóim Am-Breise #GALvDUB@GalwayLgfa 0-14@dublinladiesg 2-13CÚL! CÚL! CÚL!!!! 🤯 Críoch dochreidte ó Carla Rowe isteach san eangach! The tension is unreal! 💯
Beo/Live ar @TG4TV @GAA_BEO @nemetontv pic.twitter.com/urIa1SHBYN
— Spórt TG4 (@SportTG4) July 19, 2025
But we need more of that online traction to help build a fanbase. That’s particularly true in the case of the Camogie Association since they have even less TV coverage to work with than Ladies football. They need to utilise their own channels to regularly publish highlights packages with good graphics to help sell the product.
Interviews with players about their lives and passion for the sport the various challenges they face day-to-day with are important too. They allow us to see the human behind the jersey. But those stories are separate to the game they play. They’re not props to bolster match coverage. In-game moments are the only currency that counts in that respect.
There have been some suggestions that camogie and Ladies football championships should revert to the old schedule, meaning that All-Ireland finals would return to the Autumn dates. That could be a solution, although it also means going into direct competition with the men’s club championships. That would lead to further dilution of the All-Ireland final crowds as most will pick their club game in that scenario.
When you’re trying to grow both sports, you must meet the public more than half way. Anything that could discourage spectators from attending the games is a dangerous gamble to take.
The 2025 camogie final was one to remember. But we’ll have to savour it long enough to sustain us through to July next year.
Our cups could do with a refill.
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