TV3 hoping GAA coverage pushes the right buttons

AT 1pm tomorrow, GAA fans across the country will have to break the habit of a lifetime. It will be a minor alteration in practical terms, but its significance for the GAA and broadcasting in this country will be seismic.

Rather than push the ‘2’ button on their remote controls, thousands of people will be diverting their fingers mere millimetres to the right to take in the game that will truly launch this year’s Munster Hurling Championship.

Waterford and Clare is a tasty enough encounter in its own right but viewers born and bred on a basic diet of RTÉ coverage will be running the rule over TV3’s first live championship broadcast. A nation expects.