Provincial football clashes lose out in live TV coverage

Live coverage of the provincial senior football championships is likely to be severely dented by the introduction of the Super 8 All-Ireland SFC quarter-final stages and the reformatting of the provincial senior hurling competitions as round robins.

The Irish Examiner has learned the Munster senior football final is expected to be the only game televised live in the competition, while according to an Irish Times report yesterday there are plans to show just one Ulster semi-final and final live on RTÉ, a drop of five from last year when all but one of that provincial championship was shown live.

The Galway-Mayo Connacht SFC quarter-final is scheduled to be shown on RTÉ and there is the possibility of another two Connacht matches being broadcast live.