All-Ireland SHC quarter-finals should be given Sunday billing says National games development chairman

“If you have the All-Ireland quarter-finals in the calendar where we knew regardless of who was going to be in it, we could fill Croke Park," says Micheál Martin.

THE SUNDAY GAMES: Micheál Martin, Chairman National Games Committee, speaking during the Liberty Insurance GAA Annual Games Development Conference. Pic: Piaras O Midheach / SPORTSFILE.

The All-Ireland SHC quarter-finals should be made into a festival of hurling in Croke Park with Sunday throw-in times, according to one of the GAA’s leading officials.

National games development chairman Micheál Martin believes the inter-county game is intrinsic to the growth of Gaelic games among children and wants to see the fourth and fifth last games of the hurling championship given a Sunday afternoon billing in GAA HQ with ticket offers for juveniles.

Martin has spoken to new national head of hurling Willie Maher about how the quarter-finals have been “lost a little in the calendar” as the Tailteann Cup, which takes the Sunday televised slots in the form of its semi-finals this weekend, “can stand on its own two feet”.

The former Wexford chairman said: “In the context of games development and the promotion of hurling, every county has to have a hurling pillar now in their plan when they submit for funding.

"One part of that is how do you promote hurling. I feel we (the national games development committee) have to set the standard in terms of hurling promotion and within that there should be an opportunity to pack Croke Park on an annual basis for the quarter-finals.

“I’m told that 10 buses came from Ulster for the Leinster hurling and Joe McDonagh Cup finals earlier this month. The free tickets initiative was wonderful in fairness to Derek (Kent, Leinster chairman) and Leinster GAA but in this instance they don’t necessarily have to be free.

“If you have the All-Ireland quarter-finals in the calendar where we knew regardless of who was going to be in it, we could fill Croke Park. A bit like the Tailteann Cup semi-finals, which have been a great success, if we used the same concept to stage the games in Croke Park on a Sunday, it would a major boost to hurling.

“So much could be built around that day. We’re bringing our club’s U10s to Abbottstown for an All-Ireland semi-final and we’re linking in with a club from Westmeath and a club from Dublin. Why can’t we do that on a widespread basis?

"All-Ireland quarter-final day is one I feel that kids have to take over.”

Martin has spoken to Aidan Carroll in the GAA’s ticketing office who has told him the idea of discounted tickets is “eminently achievable”. As Wexford chairman last year, Martin lobbied for the quarter-finals to be played on a Sunday and maintains they are the best day for the games at a time of year where there are several other sports events on a Saturday.

He added: “The one benefit of the All-Ireland hurling quarter-finals is you do have a turnover of teams ever year. It was Cork, Wexford, Clare and Dublin last year and it’s Limerick, Tipperary, Galway and Dublin this year.”

In an ideal world, Martin knows the Galway-Tipperary All-Ireland SHC quarter-final wouldn’t clash with the Dublin-Cork All-Ireland SFC preliminary quarter-final this Saturday.

“We have so few hurling games that they have to be given place to breathe and strive. Given the volume of games this weekend, it was impossible for the Central Competitions Control Committee to avoid a clash.

“The hurling games should be the biggest games this weekend and that’s at the same time acknowledging the football games have lit up the championship this year. They have been incredible.

“The promotional aspect of inter-county games for children is huge. They have to be able to see and be at these games. That’s where their heroes are playing and when they see them. They then go back into the garden pretending to be them.

“In the season review, I don’t expect radical changes but tweaks to the inter-county season based on principles. The club player is one of those but the promotional aspect of the inter-county game has to be part too. Bringing kids to games is where they learn to love the game.”