Centra unveiled as hurling co-sponsor

CENTRA was yesterday announced as the newest co-sponsor of the All-Ireland hurling championship,taking over from RTÉ in a deal which will last three years.

The nationwide retailer will join Etihad and Guinness on the hurling docket.

Both global brands have been on board since 2008 and have already signalled their intention to continue for another such term.

Like SuperValu, who agreed to back the football championship for the same period earlier this week, Centra is part of the Musgrave Group which also includes brands such as Mace and Londis.

GAA president Christy Cooney revealed yesterday that, though the two deals were announced independently, they were negotiated as a package.

However, the Musgrave Group received no discount for buying in bulk.

“No. They were done along the normal lines that we would normally conduct our sponsorship deals. One is for hurling, one is for football.

“They are two different brands. As we went through the process of discussions it became clear that they were interested in hurling and football and so were we.

“As I said, they are two different brands and they give us tremendous profile throughout the country, to help promote the gospel of hurling and football. It was perfect for them and perfect for us.” Meanwhile Kerry GAA chiefs have yet to discover if the appeal against Paul Galvin’s eight weeks ban was successful.

Last year’s Footballer of the Year, along with manager Jack O’Connor and Kerry secretary Peter Twiss attended the meeting of Croke Park’s Appeal’s Committee on Thursday night.

Galvin incurred the ban after his dismissal against Cork in the second game of the Allianz National Football League on February 13.

However Kingdom officials had not received any correspondence on the matter from disciplinary chiefs last night.

WESTMEATH (SH v Carlow): P Burke; G Gavin, D McCormack, E Price; A Price, A Mitchell (capt), P Greville; J Clarke, E Loughlin; A Dowdall, J Shaw, K Cosgrave; D Carty, B Murtagh, C Curley.

DUBLIN (SH v Tipperary): G Maguire; N Corcoran, T Brady, O Gough; S Hiney, R Fallon, M O’Brien; J McCaffrey, S Lambert; P Kelly, L Rushe, S Durkin; D O’Callaghan, D Treacy, A McCrabbe.

LIMERICK (SH v Cork): T Flynn; D Lynch, D Kenny, S O’Neill; L O’Dwyer, A Brennan, M Carr; N Quaid, P Browne; B O’Sullivan, A Owens, C Mullane, G Mulcahy; P McNamara, A O’Connor.

MEATH (SH v Armagh): S Quinn; B Coughlan, E Fitzgerald, M Foley; M Horan, P Fagan, M Lynch, S Clynch, D Kirby, P Durnin, N Hackett, P Garvey, J Kenna, N Horan, M Mullally.