IRISH sports fans will have a lot of planning/sacrificing to do when mapping out their Saturday viewing.
This time of year is always a hectic one when there’s an international soccer tournament on.
3
3
But the business of the sporting calendar has been exacerbated by the GAA condensing its inter-county campaign to the extent that the All-Ireland quarter-finals in Gaelic football will be held this weekend.
For the many people that would have a crossover interest in the two codes, this Saturday will present a major TV scheduling headache.
The knockout stages of Euro 2024 will kick-off with the meeting of Switzerland and Italy at 5 pm.
Hosts Germany will later face off in the 8 pm slot against one of England/Serbia/Denmark/Slovenia.
Action at Croke Park meanwhile will throw-in at 4 pm with the meeting of Armagh and Roscommon – as they seek to take another Ulster scalp.
That’ll be followed by Dublin versus Galway from 6:15 pm.
As if those matches weren’t in enough danger of being overshadowed by events in Germany as it is, they’re also behind the GAAGO paywall.
So there’s no doubt which will capture the imagination of the casual sports fan out spending their afternoon/evening at pubs that can’t justify taking on an extra subscription.
The Sunday won’t pose as much of a problem as Donegal square off against Louth nice and early at 1:15 pm.
The tie of the round will then see Kerry play Derry at 3:15 pm.
The Euros contests on that day are again 5 pm and 8 pm kick-offs so there shouldn’t be any run-over.
Those two GAA clashes will also be shown on free-to-air as part of The Sunday Game Live double-bill.
Obviously, it’s out of the hands of the GAA when a major international soccer tournament takes place.
But the European Championships and World Cups do always dwarf the viewing figures of the tail-end of the football and hurling Championships.
So it’s one more reason to push the inter-county season back out a few weeks.
Should the winners of the preliminary quarter-final all wind up struggling to go to the well once again as is expected, that’ll similarly ramp up the sentiment that change is needed.
Derry in particular have it all to do since they were taken to extra-time and penalties before finally overcoming Mayo in Castlebar.
The Kingdom have been warned by former rock Seamus Moynihan though that Mickey Harte’s charges may be back close to their best having come out the other side of their drop in form.
